Again, hours after, as the fire dies down, are said the final salutations:—
“Om!
Now has this Mortality been merged in Immortality,
This finite soul become one with the Infinite Being.
The body of this man is here reduced to ashes!
Now, O mind! is the time
For thee to remember thy former deeds!”[1]
This is several times repeated, before water is brought from the river in an earthen pot to quench the dying embers. The ashes are collected and scattered on the stream. And, last of all, on the spot where the fire has been extinguished, the pot is taken, now emptied of its water. A single blow is given; and it lies, there in the burning-ghât, broken into a thousand fragments.
Human hearts and the energy of sorrow must have their way. To them a time of stern abstinence, of going barefooted, and sleeping on straw, may be
- ↑ This probably signifies, “Now is left to us memory alone.”
