64

Recalling that there had occurred within him a brief moment of self-forgetfulness, Gora grew harder than before. He had concluded that his having been overwhelmed by a powerful enchantment, forgetting all his obligations to society, was the consequence of his slackness in the observance of rules.

One morning, having completed his evening devotions, Gora entered his room and saw that Pareshbabu was seated there. Something like a flash of lightning passed through his breast; that there existed between himself and Paresh some deep, mysterious bond of kinship through some unseen thread — this truth could not be denied by the very veins and nerves of Gora’s being. Gora bowed to Paresh and sat down.

Paresh said, “You have no doubt heard of Binoy’s marriage?”

Gora said, “Yes.”

Paresh said, “He is not prepared to be married according to Brahmo rites.”

Gora said, “In that case he ought not to be marrying her at all.”

Paresh smiled a little and did not enter into any argument over the point. He said, “No one in our community will take part in this wedding; I hear that Binoy’s own relatives will not come either. On my daughter’s side there is only myself; on Binoy’s side there seems to be no one but you — it is for this reason that I have come to consult you in the matter.”

Gora shook his head and said, “How can there be any consultation with me in this matter? I have no part in it.”

Paresh looked at Gora’s face for a moment with astonishment and said, “You have no part in it.”

Gora felt a momentary awkwardness at Paresh’s astonishment — and precisely because he felt it, in the very next instant he said with redoubled firmness, “How am I to have any part in it?”

Pareshbabu said, “I know that you are his friend; is it not at such a moment that a friend is needed most of all?”

Gora said, “I am his friend — but that is not my sole bond in this world, nor the greatest bond of all.”

Pareshbabu asked, “Gaur, do you believe that Binoy’s conduct reveals any wrongdoing or breach of dharma?”

Gora said, “Dharma has two sides, you see. One is the eternal side, and the other is the side of worldly convention. Where dharma manifests itself in the codes of society, it cannot be disregarded even there — if it is, society crumbles to nothing.”

Pareshbabu said, “There are countless rules, of course — but must it be assumed as a certainty that dharma manifests in every one of them?”

Pareshbabu had touched upon a point where a churning was already going on within Gora’s own mind, and from that churning he had arrived at a certain conclusion — and it was for this very reason that the force of accumulated thought within him left him without any hesitation even before Pareshbabu. The gist of what he said was this: that if we do not subject ourselves wholly to society through its rules, we obstruct the deepest purpose that lies within society; for that purpose is hidden, and not every individual has the power to perceive it clearly. For this reason, we must possess the capacity to accept society without questioning it.

Pareshbabu listened quietly to everything Gora had to say until the very end; and when Gora fell silent and felt within himself a twinge of shame at his own loquacity, Paresh said, “Your fundamental point I accept; it is true that within every society there exists a particular intention of Providence. That intention is not evident to everyone with equal clarity. But to strive to see it clearly — that is surely man’s task; his fulfilment does not lie in following rules in an unconscious manner, like plants and trees.”

Gora said, “My point is this: only by submitting ourselves wholly and in every respect to society can our consciousness of its true purpose become unclouded. To be in conflict with it is not merely to obstruct it — it is to misunderstand it.”

Pareshbabu said, “Without resistance and opposition, truth cannot be tested at all. It is not as if the testing of truth was accomplished once and for all by a group of sages in some remote antiquity and settled forever — truth must be newly discovered in every age, by the people of every age, through resistance and through collision. But in any case, I have no wish to argue the matter with these broad concepts. I believe in the personal freedom of the individual. It is through that freedom of the individual, striking against things, that we are able to discern properly which truths are eternal and which are transient fancies; and upon that knowing, and the striving to know, the welfare of society depends.”

So saying, Paresh rose, and Gora too left his chair. Paresh said, “I had thought that owing to the Brahmo Samaj’s objections, I might perhaps have to stand a little apart from this marriage, and that you, as Binoy’s friend, would carry out all the arrangements. Herein lies a friend’s slight advantage over a kinsman — a friend need not bear the blow of society’s censure. But since you too consider it your duty to abandon Binoy, the entire burden has fallen upon me, and I shall have to conduct this matter alone.”

When Pareshbabu said “alone,” Gora did not yet know how utterly alone Paresh was. Baradasundari had taken a stand against him; the women of the household were not pleased; fearing Harimohini’s objections, Paresh had not even called Sucharita into counsel over this marriage — and on the other side, everyone in the Brahmo Samaj had risen up against him with sword in hand, and in the two or three letters he had received from Binoy’s paternal uncle, he had been reviled as a scheming, crooked snatcher of other people’s sons.

The moment Paresh departed, Abinash and two or three others of Gora’s circle entered the room and were about to begin mocking and jesting at Pareshbabu’s expense. Gora exclaimed, “If you lack the capacity to honour one who deserves honour, at least guard yourselves from the pettiness of ridiculing him.”

Gora found himself thrust once again into the midst of his own circle and into his habitual round of work. But all of it was insipid — utterly insipid! None of it amounted to anything! None of this could be called real work. There was no life in any of it. That all this writing and reading and talking and forming factions was producing no real result — indeed was accumulating a great deal of harm — this had never struck Gora with such force before. His life, expanded by newly acquired strength, was seeking a single true channel through which to flow in full — and none of all this was satisfying him.

Meanwhile, preparations were under way for the ceremony of atonement. Gora felt a particular enthusiasm for these preparations. This atonement was not merely atonement for the impurity contracted in gaol; through this ceremony he wished, as it were, to become completely pure in every respect and, taking a new body, to be born anew into his field of action. The prescribed rites of atonement had been determined, the date had been fixed, letters of invitation were being sent out to celebrated scholarly pandits of East and West Bengal. The wealthier members of Gora’s circle had raised the necessary funds, and the members of the group all felt that after a long time something worthy of being called real work was being done in the country. Abinash had secretly conferred with all his associates, and it was decided that at the assembly that day, all the pandits together would honour Gora with paddy-tips and sacred grass, flowers and sandal-paste and various other offerings, and bestow upon him the title of ‘Lamp of Hindu Dharma.’ Several Sanskrit verses were to be composed for the occasion, signed below by all the Brahmin pandits, printed in ink of liquid gold, placed in a box of sandalwood, and presented to him as a gift. Along with this, a volume of the Rigveda published by Max Müller, bound in costly Morocco leather, was to be presented to him by the most senior and revered of the professors as the benediction of India herself — thereby expressing most beautifully the idea that in this age of religious degeneracy, Gora alone was the true guardian of the eternal, Veda-ordained faith.

In this manner, consultations went on daily among the members of Gora’s circle, unknown to him, with a view to making the proceedings of that day most cordial and fruitful.