SHUKRA. I have no father.
OLD MAN. But I am thy father. Did not my messenger come the other day?
[_Silence._] Did he lie to me? Dost thou not know thy mother is--
SHUKRA. Thy messenger came.
OLD MAN. Then come thou home at once. There is not time to be lost.
Come, my son, ere thy mother leaves this earth.
SHUKRA. I cannot go.
OLD MAN. Thou canst not go? Dost thou not know that thy mother is on her death-bed?
SHUKRA. I have renounced the world. For twelve years I have had no father, nor mother.
OLD MAN. Thou didst leave us, but we did not renounce thee. And now thou shouldst come.
SHUKRA. I told thy messenger that I have no father nor mother,--I cannot come.
OLD MAN. I heard it all. If you art born of us, thou canst not have a heart of stone? Come, my son: I, thy father, implore thee.
SHUKRA. Nay, nay; G.o.d alone is my father.
OLD MAN. Hath it not been said in the scriptures that thy parents are thy G.o.d? Thy father should be obeyed.
SHUKRA. That was said by one who had not seen the Truth, the Light.
OLD MAN. I command thee in the name of the Scriptures.
SHUKRA. G.o.d alone can command me.
OLD MAN. Vishnu protect me! Art thou dreaming, my child? Yonder lies thy mother, fighting death,--
SHUKRA. I have heard it all.
OLD MAN. And yet thou wilt not go?
SHUKRA. Nay, father, I cannot go. The day I took the vow of a monk, that day I cut the bond that binds me to you all. I must be free of all ties.
I must love none for myself that I may love all for G.o.d. Here I must remain where G.o.d has placed me, until He calls me elsewhere.
OLD MAN. But thy mother lies, fighting with each breath. She wishes to see thee.
SHUKRA. I cannot come.
OLD MAN. But thou must.
SHUKRA. I would if I could; but my life is in the hands of G.o.d.
OLD MAN [_mocking_]. G.o.d! Thy life belongs to G.o.d? Who gave thee life?
Not G.o.d, but she who lies there dying; what ingrat.i.tude! This, indeed, is the age of darkness; sons are turning against their fathers,--and killing their own mother.
SHUKRA [_quietly_]. I may not love one more than another; my steps, as my heart, go whither G.o.d guides them.
OLD MAN [_mocking_]. Truth is thy witness?
SHUKRA. May Indra himself punish me if I love one more than another.
Hear me, Indra. [_The roll of thunder above._]
OLD MAN [_in desperation_]. Come, my son, in the name of thine own G.o.d I pray to thee, come to thy mother. I kneel at thy feet and beg for this boon. [_He does so._]
SHUKRA [_raising him to his feet. He puts his own head down on the old man"s feet._]
OLD MAN. Then thou comest? [_Shukra rises to his feet._]
SHUKRA [_hesitating_]. There is a law in the Sacred books that says an ascetic should see the place of his birth every twelfth year.
OLD MAN. And it is twelve years now since thou didst renounce us! Ah!
blessed be the law.
SHUKRA. Yet, father, if I go, I go not in obedience to the law, but since the desire to see my mother is uppermost in me, I who dreamt not of the law hitherto--yea, now I hasten to abide by the law. Ah, what mockery! It is not the letter of the law, but the spirit in us that judges us sinners or saints. Now if I go with thee to obey the law, that would be betraying the law.
OLD MAN. Betraying the law!
SHUKRA. Thought alone is the measure of our innocence. He who thinks evil is a doer of evil indeed. Nay, nay, tempt me not with the law. I must remain here. I must keep my vow. [_He looks up to heaven; it is covered with enormous black clouds._]
OLD MAN. The law is not written in the heavens. It is inscribed in the heart of man. Obey the dictates of thy heart.
SHUKRA. G.o.d alone shall be obeyed. I cannot betray His command. I, who am an ascetic, must not yield to the desire to see my mother--Nay!
G.o.d--
OLD MAN. What manner of G.o.d is He that deprives a dying mother of her son? Such a G.o.d never was known in Hindu life. No such G.o.d lives, nor breathes. [_Thunder and lightning._]
SHUKRA. Erring Soul, do not blaspheme your creator. He is the G.o.d of Truth--G.o.d of Love.
OLD MAN [_disdainfully_]. G.o.d of Love,-- How can He be G.o.d of Love if He dries up the stream of thy heart and blinds thy reason as the clouds blind the eyes of the Sun? Nay, thou liest. It is not the G.o.d of Love, but the G.o.d of thine insane self--self-love that makes thee rob thy mother of her only joy in life. I--yea, I will answer to G.o.d for thee.
If, by coming to see thy mother, thou sinnest, I ask G.o.d to make me pay for thy sin. Come, obey thy father,--I will take the burden of thy sin, if sin it be.
SHUKRA. Nay, each man pays for his sins as each man reaps the harvest of his own good deeds. None can atone for another. Ah, G.o.d! cursed be the hour when I was born. Cursed,--
OLD MAN [_angrily_]. Thou cursest thy birth?
SHUKRA. Yea, to be born in this world of woe is a curse indeed.
OLD MAN. Then curse thy tormented mind and thy desolate heart; curse not,--
SHUKRA. Nay, I curse the hour that saw me come to this earth of delusion and Maya. I do curse,--
OLD MAN. Thou dost dare curse the hour when thou wert born! Ah, vile sinner! To curse the hour of thy birth when thy mother is dying! G.o.d be my witness, he has incurred his father"s wrath. Now,--no G.o.d can save thee.