Swami Vivekananda - Sister Christine : 26

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WANDER-YEARS

..Then came the story of the years of heart-breaking struggle that followed. One teacher after the other Gautama followed, one method after the other he tried. He practised the greatest asceticism, spent long days in fasting and torturing the body to the point of death — only to find that this was not the way. At last rejecting all these methods he came to the pipal tree at Bodh Gaya and called to all the worlds: "In this seat let the body dry up — the skin, the bone, the flesh go in final dissolution. I move not until I get the knowledge which is rare, even in many rebirths."

He found it there. And again, he lifted up his voice, this time in a shout of triumph:

            "Many a house of life hath held me,
            Ever seeking him who wrought this
                            prison of the senses

            Sorrow-fraught, sore was my strife.
            But now thou builder of this tabernacle— thou,
            I know thee. Never shalt thou build again
                            these walls of pain.

            Nor raise the ridge-pole of deceit,
            Nor lay fresh rafters on the beams.
            Delusion fashioned thee.
            Safe pass I thence, deliverance to obtain."

To be continued.... (Memoirs of  Sister Christine)