LEAVE THIS chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil! Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever. Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.
I WAS MUSING last night on my spendthrift days, when I thought you spoke to me- In youth's careless career you kept all the doors open in your house. The world went in and out as it pleased-the world with its dust, doubts, and disorder-and with its music. With the wild crowd I came to you again and again unknown and unbidden. Had you kept shut your doors in wise seclusion how could I have found my way into your house?'
