Kamanita gazed upon her with wonder and reverence. Then he said—
“Then thou art, and just for that reason, as I believe, the wisest being in the whole Brahma-world. For all these star-gods round about us are aghast, shine with a wavering light, flicker, and blink; and even the hundred-thousandfold Brahma himself has become restless, and from his dulled radiance dart forth from time to time what seem to me flashes of anger. But thou dost give a steady light as of a lamp in a sheltered spot. And that also is a sign of disturbance that the movement of these heavenly bodies has now become audible—the thundering crashes and mighty accents, as of the distant ringing of bells, proceeding from this Brahma-world, which once reached us on the shores of the heavenly Gunga, far from here, in Paradise, we now hear on all sides. That indicates that the harmony of motion is disturbed, that disunion and separation of the world-forces is taking place. For it has been well said that, ‘Where want is, there noise is; but abundance is tranquil.’ And so I do not doubt but that thou art right. Come then, Vasitthi, while, round about us, this Brahma-world expires and becomes a prey to destruction, relate to me thy memories of the Perfect One, in order that I may become composed as thou art. Tell me all of thy life, for it may well be that we are united for the last time in a place where it will be possible for spirit to commune with spirit of things that have happened, and it still remains a mystery how Angulimala appeared in Ujjeni, although his becoming an ascetic has been fully explained to me. But his appearance at that time gave the impulse to my pilgrimage and was the reason why I did not take to downward paths, but instead rose again in the Paradise of the West, there to climb by thy help to this highest heaven, where throughout immeasurable ages we have enjoyed the lives of gods. I have an idea, however, that the impulse which led to my becoming a pilgrim went out from thee. Now the truth about this I should like to learn; but also, and before all things else, how it came about that thou, for my salvation, didst enter again into existence in Paradise, and not in some far higher place of bliss.”
And while from one hundred thousand years to another, the growing dimness of the Brahma-light became ever more apparent and the gods of the stars grew ever paler;
While these flickered and spluttered with more and more irregularity, and from the duller-growing circle of fire around the Brahma, vast fingers of flame shot forth and swept hither and thither throughout the whole of space, as if the god with a hundred giant arms were seeking the invisible foe who was besetting him;
While, owing to the disturbed movements of the heavenly bodies, whirlwinds arose which rent whole systems of stars out the kingdom of the Brahma, and into their places rushed a wave of darkness from the mighty void, as the sea dashes in where the ship has sprung a leak;
And while, at other points, systems crashed into one another and a universal conflagration broke out, with explosions which hurled sheaves of shooting-stars down into the fiery throat of the Brahma;
While the thunder of the harmonies as they broke down and crashed into one another—the death-rattle of the music of the spheres—rolled and reechoed with ever-increasing fearfulness from one quarter of the heavens to another—
Vasitthi, untroubled, and speaking in measured language, related to Kamanita her last earthly experiences.
XL
In the Grove of Krishna
After that first evening I neglected no opportunity of visiting the Krishna grove, and of becoming more deeply initiated into the doctrine, by the words of the Master or of one of his great scholars.
During the absence of my husband, the fear of the citizens of Kosambi because of the robber Angulimala grew from day to day. For the very reason that nothing was heard of fresh deeds of his, fantasy was stirred. Suddenly a report was spread that Angulimala intended to fall upon the Krishna grove one evening and carry off the citizens assembled there, and not only these, but even the Buddha himself. That raised the already excited popular feeling almost to the point of tumult. People declared that if evil should come to the Master from villainous robber hands at the gates of Kosambi, then the anger of the gods would be visited on the whole town.
Enormous crowds of people swept through the streets, and, collecting in front of the royal palace, demanded threateningly that King Udena should avert this calamity and render Angulimala incapable of further mischief.
On the following day Satagira returned.
He at once overwhelmed me with praise for my good advice, to which alone he was disposed to attribute his having come safely home. Vajira, his second wife, who, with her little son on her arm, appeared to welcome him, was dealt with very summarily: “he had matters of importance to talk over with me.”
When we were again alone, he forthwith began, to my unspeakable discomfort, to talk of his love, of how he had missed me on the way, and with what joy he had looked forward to this hour of reunion.
I was on the point of telling him about the troubles in the town, in order to change the current of his thoughts, when the servants announced the chamberlain, who had come to summon Satagira to the king.
After about an hour he returned—another being. Pale, and with perturbed countenance, he came in to me, flung himself down on a low seat, and exclaimed that he was the most wretched man in the whole kingdom, a fallen great one, soon to be a beggar, mayhap even exposed to imprisonment or exile, and that the cause of all his misfortune was his boundless love for me, which
