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WINTER INDIA

defile him, to whom no sin is possible, sits in his garden, "air clad," summer and winter alike, indifferent to heat and cold, hunger and thirst, feeling neither joy nor sorrow, a soul uplifted beyond all further test or trial. He sits there imparting wisdom to his disciples and followers, as Gautama Buddha taught once in the Deer Park, presenting the same old unchanging picture of religious life in the East. Like the Prince Siddhartha, Swamji left home and wife upon the birth of a son. His duty to the world was then done, and all the years since have been given to study, meditation, and the welfare of his soul, learning the great yoga mysteries and passing continually to higher stages. Two disciples early attached themselves to him, begged for him, and devoutly served him, accompanying the holy man on his pilgrimages to sacred places, and finally to his home, where with tearless indifference he learned of the death of his son, and addressing words of wisdom to his parents and wife, passed on. Without money, with only a shred of clothing, and no care for the morrow, he traveled all India, and, preserved through heat and snow, flood, storm, cold, hunger, and sickness, he came finally to Benares when he felt that he had attained supreme wisdom and triumphed over the world. A pious raja put the beautiful Annanbag (Garden of Happiness) at his disposal, and, dropping the one bit of raiment, his last earthly possession, Paribrajakacharya Sri Bhaskarananda Saraswati Swamji lives, air clad, in the same state of nature as primeval man, sitting beneath the trees by day discoursing to the