The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 3/Introductory Note
Om!
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
ONE more gladdening birth-day, by the grace of God; and with it, one other commemorative volume to take its proper place beside the two precious ones preceding it. The full measure of expectation realised by the second, like the first, in the highly appreciative welcome elicited from discerning circles far and near has afforded more than the necessary encouragement for the succession of a third in due course. And now this* fresh instalment of the ‘message’ goes forth upon the valued old task of ‘ministration thought-compelling and soul-vivifying thus (be it hoped) to prepare the way for yet another annual enrichment of the largess of our legacy.
Some idea of the manifold and unstinted tribute of recognition accorded to the volume presented this auspicious day last year, may be gathered from a few stray extracts out of a large number of acknowledgment letters and reviews. Well may the place of priority among these be given, as before, to the renewed testimony and benediction of the venerable Rev. Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter of Oxford, as near to the Indian Theistic Church in warm-hearted sympathy as he stands high in well-merited renown in the world of theology. Referring to “your beloved Dewan Bahadur”. he is “happy to learn that he is still with you to exercise the genial influence of beautiful ^nd honoured age”. As to the varied contents of the volume, he specifically observes, “The addresses on behalf of Social Purity and the elbvated respect due to Woman are of great value. They make the loftiest appeal and should be circulated as widely as possible” ; and about the Prayers, he adds, “There is so warm and rich a sense of the Heavenly Presence with all its varieties of gpace, so glowing a gratitude for the wonders of existence and all the aifections and hopes which life inspires, that they must confirm the faith of all who read them* May the influence of his teaching be spread far and wide by this fresh collection of his uplifting words ! ” The Inquirer of London, that eminent organ of free faith and fellowship which previously recorded its ‘‘ grateful recognition ” of the “ lofty religious tone and high intellectual value,” “ the nobility of utterance and depth of spiritual fervour,” of the first volume, is likewise led, by the distinctive features of the second, particularly to “ emphasise the ominently practical appeal for moral and social reform that this great Indian teacher has persistently addressed to his country-men and most of all to tha young, during hia long and fruitful career.” Among the joiirnals of Calcutta, The Modern Review delights to find the volume equally “ edifying and inspiring ” wiflh its predecessor- The World and the New Dispensation is struck with the “ chaste and classic ” quality of,the style and the “ blend of *the scholar and the vdevotee ” in the author, as also “ his touch with all classes of people and his knowledge of men and movements In a fairly complete review of ‘‘ this valuable contribution to Brahmo literature ” with its teaching of universal religion “ not savouring of the least sectarianism,” Pundit Sitanath Tattwa-bhushan, through the columns of The Indian Messenger as on tlie former occasion, gives a justly authoritative appraisement of the purple patches spread throughout the work. With others he commends, in particular, the opening piece on Social Purity and the Anti-Nau,tch Movement as “ the most thoughtful and best-written ” within its own section; nay, as almost unique, in the whole literature ‘‘ anywhere ” upon that vital subject, by virtue of its “ deep insight ” and practical wisdom ” clothed in “ dignified and ornate lan- guage.” And of J^he “ great helps to devotion” provided in the directfy religious services out of ‘‘ the depth of the adoring spirit in the souJ,” he prizes as “ veritable gems ” that on Sadhana and the Birth-day Family Service, the latter illustrating the happy standard of "what a domestic ceremony should be — full of sympathy, — identification, as far as possible, on the part of the minister with the family.” Nearer home, The Hindu of Madras notices how “ the writings are suffused by a living spirit of religion and social service and the author writes a style which possesses a rare degree of fulness and maturity.” Justice greets in him ‘‘ one of the foremost thinkers of India ” who, “ as a Hrahino,”(so runs the significant compliment) tak('S a very chaste and oftentimes too chaste a view of social arrapgements and structnr, s among his countrymen ” ; and while I'/raising the social indictments as “ vigorous and bold,” it observes, ‘‘ He has wise words and lofty idoaJs for the man and woman who can afford to got beside their normal selves a little while in thought and meditation on things that really matter.” With a lively sense of the moral and spiritual as well as the literary excellences of its other portions, The Dailij Express heaj-tily joins the general chorus of grateful acclaim towards the said “ forceful thesis ” as “ by far the most outstanding feature of the compilation-” So does United India and Indian States opine at Delhi that it “ would by itself make the book a v<alued possession-” From Masulipatam, the fruitful vineyard of an elder day , Janmahhumi gratefully hails the “vital drops” of the second volume with those who, having “ quatfed up the nectar made available to them in the first,’’ “must be eagerly looking for more and more of this elixir”; and classing the anther among “super-souls, to be sure,” it confidently prescribes the publication as a fitting companion for alfDegree-seekers in the “rniversity of Life.” As for individual witness, so worthy a votary of the hoary Hindu faith as Sir T. V. Seshagiri Aiyar is prepared freely to identify the Brahmo teaching in the book with the essence of llighes Hinduism, as he thus concludes his discerning note: “ Your messages and discourses ought to open the eyes of the youths of the country to the •realities of our. religion and to the noxious character of many of the observances which hide the precious truth within. It was with genuine pleasure that I perused your book.” Likewise, writing in acknowledgment to their esteemed friend, the Maharajah Saheb of Pithapuram, two good representatives of the healthful Christian Clergy across the waters express themselves with the same sympathy, and soundness of judgment. Says Dr. llosslyn Bruce of Sussex : “ I am very sincerely touched by the very beautiful w’ork which you have so kindly sent to me. The addresses are so human and so living that they cannot but be based on the only solid rock of eternal truth: and the religion in them is identical with ours.’^ And the Rev- A. .T. Skinner, himself the Hoad of a Public School at Marlow, shrewdly observes of the author, " He must have been a very wonderful man, and gifted with a great insight into the inner workings of a boy’s mini. I feel sure.* also, ^lat you t ourself must have stimulated him, or at least encouraged him in his plan of education-’’
Votive wreaths of btiutless admiration like these, richly and variously woven round last year’s volume in like manner with its predecessor of the Jubilee year, may, quite characteristically as ever, make the noble-spirited author (in his own unaffected words) “ tremble — I had said, shudder — when I reflect of what fragile creature such g-enerous things are being said ” and “feel as though ‘ a pious fraud’ is being practised, be it ever so unwittingly. ” Yet> while the extremity of meek modesty only lends added lustre to tlm laurels, they serve, indeed, to prove the brendth and depth of dispassionate recognition- 'Phey help also to point out ‘tho common, lmmistak:^bl(^ ele’T'.onts o^ real worth and worthiness in the magic pen and the wizard tongue, the acute mind and the noble heart, the dcn'out soul and the consecrated life. And here they are set forth at length, even as they go further to obviate, by other and truly eonqx-tent estimates, tlie editorial ^osk of evaluating, while providing, the wares of this siuanieding volume. To this trcasnre-trove also may as well Be appropriated .every particle of the glowing tributes already called forth. The same tact and taste, the same elegance and eloquence, the same flavour and fragrance, the same aura and aroma, the same insight and inspiration as before may be found to prevail. The same dominant note of intense and yet ever self-dissatisfied spiritual ‘ realisation ’ may be heard to sound the higher sTains of that self-surrender which, as the closing article in the first section here puts it, feels “ an existence separate from God is insufferalfiy oppn'ssive.” What difference in e!n]itiasis and expression is perceptible b<*tveeii this and the two former issues consists not in the spirit or ii! the stand-point but arises cliietlvoiit of tli“ subjects and the surroundings, '[’he four main sections, of course, conliuuc in regard to the selection aud classifieat Km of contents. But, subject to the exig •ueics of th > material available each time, th'* scape of the opening volume has come to be, ii^ the m:*in. religious; the Social Purity and allied tiiernes in the next giv(? it a ])re[»ou i.Taiiae of ethical colour; while, again, in the third, with its College Address(‘s. (i’ouncil Speeches, the Adi-Andhra and Anti-Non-Co-operation Addresses and the Vidyasagar and Viresaliogam Appreciations, it is the educational and social (or socio-political) interests that bulk largest, thus leaving open the range of its yet-to-be successor mostly for literary discourses and dissertations. Hence, as to the compilation in hand, the controversial, if not trite, nature of some ol' the tojiics as well as the mixed character of the audiences must enter into a consideration ot’ tlie tone and the treatment- Even within these limits, one or two rem » rkable features cannot fail to imprejis themselves. Firstly, there is the serene, self-possessed di^'iiity of the utterance ever and exclusively in tlie liglit of the ethical and spiritual be-iriugs of the issues involved. Yes; light, mit heat, albeit on burning topics and in a heated atnios]»here : quite the sublime, not the stale view ; always the suggesliive, ndt the self-asserting vein ; just the appealing, not the accusing accent; only the strong, not the sour word altogether 'an immediuti; object-lesson in entire freedom from that spirit of intolerance which comes in for exposure in the second of the articles in this volume, a piece which may profitably be studied along with its positive pendant on ‘ Toleration ’ among the ‘ Meditations What wonder if such pronouncements of “ humane catholicity ” from “ a level head over square shoulders ” should have uniformly challenged singular attention and respect on the floor of the Council Chamber ? Secondly, the Heavenward hanker of the mystic spirit does not force it away into the purely speculative or sentimental detachment of the ascetic and the ancliorite, but only invigorates it with the dynamic and hallows it with the afflatus of they)atriot and the reformer for the practical problems of home and society. The religion that nurtures'the life of God iu the genial soul within strives, also and thereby, to radiate the glory of God through a regenerate liumanity ythout. • The Presence that informs is likewise the Power that impels.
A word or two, though necessarily brief, may next be given to mtroduce each item or sub-group of items included in the pages to follow. The Madras University Convocation Address of 1923, vsrhich ‘ leads ’ the opening section, has effectually stolen a march upon most of its forerunners and is bound to shine out resplendent in the annals of that august Body as a golden classic at once more than worthy of the occasion and possessed of more than occasional worth. Delivered as from ■“ a Pisgah-height vision of that Promised Land towards which, in humble imitation of shining exemplars, he has striven in his day to direct a succession of pilgrim steps ; and listened to with reverent raj)tur ; amidst phenomenal silence by the vast asseinblage of “ the lateft — the freshest and briglitest — jewels of the motherland, the youngist and. therefore, the dean^st of the daughters and sons of BharatamatU, ” this memorable message of felicitation and counsel was feted at the time with an unbroken peal of harmonious plaudit^ by all ^the Dailies of the Presidency. If precision, however, so demand it, then may bo permitted a passing roftmence, by way of exception, to solitary Swaraj ya's ‘scrannel pipe’ upon embittered lips. As against the self-betrayed mendacity of that oracle strangely failing to detect in the Address little more than “ a mass of pompons verbiage ” and “ an accumulation of meaningless platitudes ” ‘‘ singularly devoid of the stuft' that creates moral enthusiasm or the noble call to idealism which inspires young minds the master-piece may safely be trusted to come to its own in the freer judgment of the wider public whom it is now to reach. And thus may be ratified its unclouded approbation by all other responsible organs of the Indian Press — that is, as “ excellent ” and “ attuned to a loftiness of outlook”, according to The Hindu, “above the ordinary run,” in the opinion of The Daily Express ; “ a message of inspiration as adjudged by New India ; and “ an eloquent plea for reason and action” that ‘‘transcends the ordinary level of common thought and breathes of the true sj^iirit of the prophet and seer,” in tile view of Justice- The discourse sets forth a vivid exposition of the solemn significance of the graduation ceremony of the hood and the gown, the pledge and the diploma. It also lays strenuous insistence upon imperative measures of -educational reform like the development of ‘university centres’ on the iing'uistic i)asis in outlying areas, “ a broad and well-laid scheme of wide-spread Vernacular •education,” the stimulation of higher technical training for the dissolution of “ academic untouchability ” between intellectual .aptitudes and industrial skill, and “a liberal-spirited scheme of moral instruction.” But apart from these immediate •concerns, it stands assured of permanent validity as clearly embodying the Two Tables of the Law unto the supreme end ■of self-realisation in ” the glorious work of national renaissance”: namely. Culture {vidya matured intot viveka, riveka sublimated into vigjnana, viyjnana mellowed into vinaya) and Duty (the instrument of Discipline, the pillar of Development, the fountain of Delight). Next.’a trio of religious -essays— the first from the Suthyammrardhani of liaj^huiuudry and the other two from The Fellow'TVovkeT of M!adras — though belonging to the earlier years yet with great force and in lucid language, sets out the diverse varieties, the subtle sources, the baleful results and the effective solvents, on the one hand, of ‘‘ rnau’s injury to brother-man in the name of religion ” and, on the other, of man’s degradation of God the Formless into the grossness of “ a materialised or ‘ symbolised ’ deity ” ; and, furthermore, the limitations of well-meant make-shifts and half-measures towards reformation, as also of conformity to custom on principle, so-called, in disregard of conviction. The two College Addresses will be specially welcome to loving ‘ old boys ’ and respectful ex-colleagues, to the trustful co-administrators and the “ passionate and yet dispassionate ” patron, as the preserved record of a loftj- outlook upon the educational mis'feioa of an accredited institution honoured and enriched with close upon a decade-and-a-half of presiding beneficence under the sweetest the most sanctified, of relations evermore and all-round. Cf these singularly cherished sentiments, the strongest finds grateful expression in words which must here be reinscribed to be graven upon reverent hearts. “ The richest reward of my life-work has always been the affection and regard of my pupils. That* indeed, has been the most valuable asset of my life, as it has been also the most powerful stimulus in my work.” Tlum, the eight speeches of the first triennium of the Reformed, Provincial Legislature reveal, as from an elevated summit, the fulness of many- sided. sympathy and far-sighted statesman- ship on certain vital issues of the country’s progress. They show the true, ‘ liberal ’-
- national ’ educationist in the pointed
indication ^of grave defects, tending to out-of-date effeteness, in the courses and control of Public Instruction even as a ‘ transferred subject and in the warm acceptance of the programme of free and compulsory elementary education of a practical type under an improved class of teachers with the temple-offerings ®f piety, rightly usable for the noblest of chanties ”5 and, again* in the strong opposition to any financial interdict upon wholesome religious teaching under missionary auspices. They show the chivalrous champion of the claims of women for political enfranchisement with due regard to the essential modicum of literacy and the existing difficulties of the purdah. They show the uncompromising temperance (why, total abstinence) reformer — that ‘other self’ of the lifelong purity worker — in the righteous protestation against the high licensing system of excise for the up-keep of the largest source of State income. They show the disinterested “ citizen ’’and “social reformer ” in the judicious advocacy of an adequate proportional- representation in the services to secure an all-round national, in place of a “ sporadic, spasmodic, individual and sectional efficiency”, and to stimulate the equal advancement of th*e masses with the classes- They show, too, the earnest spokesman of the cause of the ‘ depressed classes ’ in the tender api>eal^ for a separate Department and for differential treatment in their behalf even by way of just reparation for centuries of neglect, ,if not of oppression. A fuller treatment of the different phases of this last-named problem of the Adi-Andhra 8 on the part of their chosen representative in the counsels of the nation> is what is furnished in the latter of the next two Presidential Addresses — that delivered to the members of the community itself at their first District Conference with the genuine assurance, “ I always endeavour to think and feel that I am one of you,'’ while gently exhorting them, among other things, to the prime duty of self-help ” in manfully yet meekly struggling to take their legitimate position in the great Indian nation by first lifting away the dead-weight of “ crushing disabilities,” internal as well as external. The other Presidential Speech — that at the Anti-Non-Co-operation Conference in Goda- vari — endeavours “ to speak the right word in due season ” by a searching examination of the ulterior aim and the favourite methods, the practical applications and the significant omissions (“ unobkcured >by any of the mis* leading incidents ") of a movement under, if not by, which “ much avoidable harm — no donb't, intermingled* with some desirable good — has been worked.” A reasoned ‘ confession' of political ‘faith’ in refreshing language, it seeks, in a spirit of more than political faith, “to pluck consolation and even hope from our sorrows and to sight the vision of a renaissance even through the gloom of despondence,” by tracing how the prospects are not so gloomy and circumstances so irremediable.” ”In all frankness and in all friendliness” and out of a firm belief in the ‘providential’ alliance of England and India, it reminds the rulers how the “crisis” came, “the period of guardianship and tutelage having been prolonged beyond the natural limits”; and impresses upon the ruled“ how, the age of autocracy gone, the age of democracy can be saved from confusion and disruption only by a vigorous cultivation of the habit of mutual help and conscious co-operation on the basis of perfect equality.’' Such, we are led to understand, are the moorings of “the true moderate,” happily defined as one “who knows how to labour and to wait, w'ho delights to do his duty and trusts to his, partner's good-will to do his, who is loyal from a sense of the right and co-operates for the sake of general weal> who realises that raw haste is half-sister to delay, and who scorns to snatch an unfair opportunity.” The crowning article in the first section stands by itself in more senses than one ; and the reflective, reverent- spirited inquirer will suffer from no qualms in applying to itself its own commendation of the universal ‘and all-potent practice of Prayer as a “ pathway to that liealm of Eealities ” which is to be reached by the treble ascent of revelation, regeneration and realisation.
Close upofi this, to pass on to the ten ‘boun- ties and benedictions’ commenteing with those of New Year’s Day and casketed within the two central sections df the volume — that is, verily, to advance far upon the “ Realm of Realities.” The daintiest and most nutritive delicacies of the tpngue an^ ever for delecta- tion and digestion, not for dissection and disquisition. No more is the heavenly manna ofthe^soul for analysis but for assimilation. ‘Thought was not ; in enjoyment it expired.’ So be it here with these new model * Psalms by an Indian Theist* of tbe day unto whom every day with its round of rites, ordinary or occasional, nithya or naimitthika — whether new year’s day or wedding-day, birth-day or ‘ naming ’-day, love-feast day or bereavement-day, conference-day or congregation- day, working-day or holiday — is nothing if not supremely ‘ sacramental ’ as in the Saints ’ Calendar ! In the apt, expressive words, once again, of Dr- Estlin Carpenter, “ so warm and rich a sense of the Heavenly Presence with all its varieties of grace, so glowing a gratitude for the wonders of existence and all the atfections *and hopes which life inspires!” Aye, all the spontaneous outdow, all the variegated wealth, all the beauteous brightness of* human language, though in an alien tongue, remarkably laid under contribution and rendered up for responsive ‘ converse ’ with High Heaven And then, the transporting experience of oneness tcWi (rod confirming and consecrating the endearing emotion of, oneness in God ,* so that, as has been remarked, the minister is seen self-identified, not alone with the members of the worshipping family, but with one and all among the spirits of the adoring^ congregation I
The fourth and closing section of half*a* dozen sketches, long and short, biographical or psychological , brings into full view an illustrious triad of fadeless luminaries in the firmament of India- As may readily be noticed, even the ‘prentice-hand’ of well-nigh two score years ago indited the pledge of its own future perfection, while at work upon the first of these, the earliest of the compositif)n8 in the whole volume- In all the portraits alike, familiar features will be found lit up with the newer light of apposite anecdote and lively l^umour ; and the inmost core of ‘ the seeds of god-like power ’ in
- bards, saints, heroes ’ will also be seen
rightly located in each case with in-seeing sympathy- Altogether; they will, as before, enlist interest and command value as evidences of ‘ the word made flesh ’—every one of these subjects of study an object-lesson in those principles and ideals of faith and forbearance, culture and duty, love and service, which receive such beautiful exposition through the rest of the volume. The great man, of course, is a great man * at all points’* And what is already common knowledge will here be borne in once more npon the reader) namely, how much there is in common, especially as between the last two before us — t 3 rpes, both, of ancient virtue» worth and valour; patterns, both, of plain living* high thinking and noble doing ; models* both, of peerless pre-eminence in the world of * deeds ’ as of 'letters ’ — whom we would fondly denote by the familiar epitomes of theif respective lives as Dayasagar and Hithakari. Nevertheless, the system of broad categories would, not inaptly, distinguish the members of this brilliant ‘ belt of Orion ’ as Tukaram the Saint, Yidyasagar the P hila n thr opist and Yiresalingam the Hyo. Nor should it be wide of the mark to hold that these 'appreciations ‘ will tend to deepen the conclusion—
Three worthies in three not far distant or different ages born* Maharashtra, Vanga and Andhra did adorn ;
The first in loftiness of faith surpassed,
The next in majesty of love> in both the last*
And what more becoming than that a volume so resonant with the echo of Viresalingam’s, clarion-call to Duty should embody the reverent finish of an edifying tribute of appreciative reminiscence under that beloved name and, furthermore, ‘ dedicate ’ itself “ unto the deeply-Iionoured memory” of that “ever-trusted nat/aka'*? Jove nods to Jove ; deep answers unto deep ; and ours be the holy inheritance of this heart-homage from the “centre” of “the Brahmaism of regeneration ” to that of “ the Brahrnaism of reformation ” out of the very profundity of soul-communion !
It will not be out'of placb, at this point, to fix a moment’s pleasurable attention upon one notable event of deep-felt and wide-extended interest within the interval between this and the last volume# As the still-preceiing year had vritnessed the bestowal of the Kaisern* Hind Gold Medal among its New Year’s Honours, so the year happily rung out this day along the Master’s ‘ pilgrimage' brought, on the King-Emperor’s Birth-day, the royal recognition of a Knighthood for the first time, all the country over, unto a non-of&cial educationist pure and simple, himself a very primrose for modesty self -screened from public gaze. The unique distinction, only re-affirmatory as regards Nature’s own ‘ born knight ’ in the higher, fuller signification of the term, was, at the time, doubly commended in The Madras Mail with the fitting reference, “ In the Maharajah of Pithapuram he met with an enthusiastic patron who seconded his efforts especially where work connected with Social Reform was concerned, so that it might in one sense be said that the further recognition now of his work is shared to some extent by the Maharajah of Pithapuram as well.” It naturally evoked a cordial expression of general satisfaction that the right had come to the right, from Maharajahs and Rajahs, Governors and high officials, noblemen and news> paper editors, friends and co-educationists, fellow-believers and old pupils— the tokens from these last being alike rendered and received with a warmth and tenderness all their own. A slender bouquet of sample flowers from the richness of the stalk will suffice to shed its perfume upon these pages. “ None ever deserved the distinction more, for you have always set a wonderful example in life to all around you,” “ I need hardly say what a pleasure it is to me to see my old colleague in the Madras Council thus honoured, one from whom I derived so much of help and whose advice was ever sound.” It is not often that the Government honours a nbn-official of your sturdy independence of character.” "You may not have anticipated it, you may not relish it now tha/i it has, come, but it is the common property of all who love, honour and reverence you, and they at any rate will enjey it without stiqt.” “ A noble soul can-not escape recognition, however much it may try to avoid it.” “The present honour is very greatly appreciated by us as appropriately indicating your noble aims and ideals in public life. In private life we have always been struck with your singular devotion and piety and have regarded you as a saint.*’ I am sure that a Knighthood has, in recent times, never been bestowed on a more generous heart.” “ Tour good blade may not carve the casques of men, your tough lance may not thrust sure : but your strength is as the strength of ten, because your heart is pure.” “ The whole teaching profession, of which you have been a shining ornament, will be proud of your achievement and success as an educationist and public worker." “ Had the Grovemment done this duty a year earlier^ you would have had the privilege of enjoying a far greater plea- sure than this in addition — that of receiving the sincerest felicitations* of the one great soul to whom this would have been veritably a personal honour. At present you will have to be contented with the knowledge thht the oltmnt of the (Christian) College are extremely gratified at the Government’s recognition of your merits”. “You have ever been pleased to associate your manifold honours with your relation to this (Pittapur Rajah’s) College, as you have also consecrated your conspicuous gifts of head and heart to its expansion. We, too, on our side, have learnt to delight in the loving and enduring nature of that valued relationship-” “ A special honour to the Brahmo community.” ‘‘ Bombay and Bengal could count Knights amongst Brahmos, and now Madras has you, amongst them.” “A rare honour which, I boliovo, has been but honoured by your association with it. It becomes to us a matter of family pride and joy.” ‘‘ This honour, exalted as it is, is nothing compared to the very high esteem and sincere love they (your pupils and friends) bear for you.” And what is the sequel ? Before the eye of man, an immediate response of grateful acknowledgment to every individual greeting. ‘ But at the Altar of the Unseen, only the writhing cry of self-abasement under its own revaluation of values ! ‘‘ Thou art t*he witness to. Thou art the Judge of, all the pain and anguish this heart has been feeling these several days — even the pain and anguish that, while the world is led or misled into the notion of worth and virtue, there is the ceaseless, the unquenchable, hell-fire, in the heart, of separation from Thee and the aching feeling, the tormenting sense, of the loneliness born of that separation !” (P. 347.)
Thus, honour without exalting the honourable within, and the honourable within humbling itself before the honour without — thus, full of years as of honours,
‘Till old experience do attain ,
To something like prophetic strain — ’
may this, our own ‘ good man of God,^ thrive, by His grace, thr»ugh the round of many a benignant birth-da 3 thus to yield us the growing fruit of his goodness and godliness! And for the time bein^, aj'e, ‘thro’ all the secular to-be,’ may this present store of refined reflections and reverential rhapsodies, with their fresh charm of revision by that fiinishing touch which fouches nothing it adorns not, usher its peaceful way into all hands and hearts, that so their ‘fulfilled' lives may prove how
‘The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls’!
COCANADA, Maharnavami, V. RAMAKRISHNA RAO. 6-10—1924.