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therefore mildly told him that in putting such questions to him I was acting in conformity with his own advice and that he might proceed to read the answers without troubling himself about the matter. He then read some gibberish which had no meaning and which he was unable to explain. Fully convinced that we ought not to waste any more time with him and wishing to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion, I asked him to explain the last verse that he had read. He went on saying that the word "lokadhya" meant the people of the world or those who have the world and so forth. I was again obliged to point out to him that the verse had nothing to do with my question. He then looked at my question and found that it had something to do with Shankaracharya. Turning round he said that the word in question meant Shankaracharya; my friend contended that it would be absurd to force such a meaning into the context in an arbitrary manner after looking at the question, and suggested that in the following verses some unequivocal reference might probably be found to that great teacher; of course such reference was immediately found in the very next verse, into which an appropriate expression was introduced in defiance of grammar, logic and metre. When we came to this point even my friend lost all his confidence and was waiting for an opportunity to bring the interview to a decent close. For a few more seconds we had to wait during which time I could hardly suppress my laughter on finding the astrologer inform my friend that I knew "Vatarayana Yogam" and that I was a "Sakya" at heart, as the second question had something to do with Yoga. These words of course have no sense whatever. We prepared finally to depart and the astrologer noticing, our state of mind, offered to act according to our wishes. We did not however claim back the fee paid by us, but quietly took leave of him with our mind freed from all doubts regarding these notorious Nadigranthams.
