“Spanning a mile from bank to bank, the river has become the object of my reflections. A great aid to my meditations is the beauty of our location. Across the sweep of water, I can see fertile fields stretching for mile and miles into the southern horizon until they meet the gray shadows of the Saptura Hills. On this riverbank towering bamboo thickets and trees overgrown with wild jasmine and lantana creepers cover the hillsides, suspending the bungalow in jungle so dense.”
Mother Nature avails an idyllic setting for the narrator’s eloquent meditations. Concentrating on the pacific river accords the narrator the harmony that he requires for him to be flatteringly engrossed in meditation. The adjacent hills and vegetation are other causal elements which warranty the attainment of the contemplation because they are not upsetting. Accordingly, rapport with Mother Nature is a material dynamic during reflection.
“I never enter the caves , for fear of snakes, unable to believe that even the Narmada will protect me from a serpent’s fangs. Instead I sit on a large boulder at one side peering into their darkness. The caves have been deserted for centuries, but I am always hopeful of encountering some passing Jain traveller who may have stopped here for a moment’s worship.”
The narrator’s unconscious dread of caves is outright. Accordingly, the transcendent trait of Narmada would not persuade him about his safekeeping should he resolve to meditate from the cave. Meditating serenely, in cave, would be intolerable for the narrator because he would be preoccupied by the apprehensions stemming from the prospect of being attacked by a snake. The cave’s obscurity amplifies to the speaker’ nervousness for the darkness is illustrative of a camouflage of poisonous jeopardy.
“Can the love between a man and a woman be contained in the flowers they exchange, or a coin contains a merchant’s love of wealth. But if you must have only the symbols of love, not love itself, imagine it then.”
These analogies emphasize the import of intrinsic conviction for individuals committed to being Jain monks. The monk’s allegation is corroboration that his pronouncement to be a monk was based on inborn inspiration that rises above the shallowness which the coins and flowers personify. Through the impetus, an individual is invigorated to forfeit all the worldly characteristics that would be unfavourable to authentic devoutness to call of being a Jain monk.
