TULSIDAS, THE poet, was wandering, deep in thought, by the Ganges, in that lonely spot where they burn their dead. He found a woman sitting at the feet of the corpse of her dead husband, gaily dressed as for a wedding. She rose as she saw him, bowed to him, and said, 'Permit me, Master, with your blessing, to follow my husband to heaven.' 'Why such hurry, my daughter?' asked Tulsidas. 'Is not this earth also His who made heaven?' 'For heaven I do not long,' said the woman, 'want my husband.' Tulsidas smiled and said to her, 'Go back to your home, my child. Before the month is over you will find your husband.' The woman went back with glad hope. Tulsidas came to her everyday and gave her high thoughts to think, till her heart was filled to the brim with divine love. When the month was scarcely over, her neighbours came to her, asking, 'Woman, have you found your husband?' The widow smiled and said, 'I have.' Eagerly they asked, 'Where is he?' 'In my heart is my lord, one with me,' said the woman.
I WILL DECK thee with trophies, garlands of my defeat. It is never in my power to escape unconquered. I surely know my pride will go to the wall, my life will burst its bonds in exceeding pain, and my empty heart will sob out in music like a hollow reed, and the stone will melt in tears. I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared. From the blue sky an eye shall gaze upon me and summon me in silence. Nothing will be left for me, nothing whatever and utter death shall I receive at thy feet.
