Anshumala felt that the question had some bearing on her own state of mind. She looked inquiringly at Marish. ‘The mistress is right, I think,’ she said. ‘What substance can there be in something, which is so transient and of no consequence?’

Marish was slow in reacting to their question. He replied by posing a counter-question, ‘How is it that we know about death with certainty even though we have not experienced death?’

‘By seeing the deaths of others like us,’ Ratnaprabha said.

‘Does it mean, then, that we too are a part of that chain of existence, of the unending life process?’

‘Undoubtedly,’ Ratnaprabha admitted.

‘And this chain of existence was present before we were born, and will continue after we’re gone, isn’t that so?’ Marish asked, gazing straight into Ratnaprabha’s face with his own tired eyes.

‘This is also true,’ Ratnaprabha had to admit.

‘It means, then, that it is only the individual who is born or dies. The chain of existence or the collective life is unending, even immortal, so far as man’s understanding can go. The cause and the consequence of an individual’s life are both to be found in this chain of being, in this continuous process of existence.’

‘That is true, but death causes fear. That too is a reality based on experience. And unless and until we are freed from that fear, there is little purpose in being attached to life, isn’t that so?’ Ratnaprabha asked, smiling.

‘Would life be happy and free from fear if men became immortal?’ Marish asked with a hint of amusement in his tone.

‘The desire for immortality is only natural. In the orthodox Vedic view, immortality is the Supreme Bliss; that alone gives freedom from fear.’

Marish sat up, discarding the cushion. ‘Devi, what is the difference between the living and the dead?’

‘The living has motion, while the dead is immobile.’

‘True,’ Marish agreed, ‘and motion means entering from one point of time and place into another point of time and place. In other words, motion is change. This change is motion, and motion is life. Immortality means changelessness or absence of change. Devi, if the sun were to become stationary, if water and air were to become motionless, if everything were to become still and unchanging, would then life be desirable and happy?’

Noticing that his listeners were somewhat puzzled, Marish continued, ‘Devi, if all change is desirable, then death too is a part of that process of change. It is nothing but the arrival of the new in place of the old.’

‘Arya has made the incomprehensible reality even more incomprehensible,’ Ratnaprabha said, with a slight laugh. ‘If you will permit me, I will go and rest. You two can continue the discussion if you are not too tired.’

When Ratnaprabha had left, Marish said, ‘Would it be too embarrassing to take up the subject we were discussing the other day?’

‘As you wish,’ Anshumala replied, demurely.

‘Have you given any thought to it?’