26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
Samaj, and everything was done with his knowledge and under his advice and guidance to the last. For himself, he had now another call. That call was to withdraw himself from the din and bustle of the world, and spend his days in communion with his God. " It was to live before the world," as one has well said, " in it and yet out of it, the life of a true Rishi, and pour forth over all who came into his presence the genial radiance of a man of God. Henceforth he became the common patriarch of all the Samajes, and a Maharshi for all Hindus. "
At Bolpur, in the Birbhum District, my father had built many years before a sort of retreat, which he called the " Shanti Niketan," or the "Abode of Peace. " Here he had a house, a garden, a mandir,[1] and a library, and all conveniences for retirement and study. Here in his younger days he often used to spend his time in meditation and prayer with his favourite disciples, and entertain pilgrims that visited the Hermitage. The Shanti Niketan, with all its grounds and appurtenances, has been dedicated to the public for the purposes of theistic worship by a trust deed, and a Mela[2] is held there on the 7th Pausha every year.
From the time of his retirement to his death several years elapsed. Portions of this period were spent in travel,[3] in the Himalayas, in Chinsura by
