cypress, glossy lawn, and tranquil lagoon. The interior is exquisite
with lacelike carvings inlaid with semiprecious stones. Delicate
wreaths and scrolls emerge intricately from marbles, brown and
violet. Illumination from the dome falls on the cenotaphs of Emperor
Shah-Jahan and Mumtaz Mahall, queen of his realm and his heart.

Enough of sight-seeing! I was longing for my guru. Jitendra and I
were shortly traveling south by train toward Bengal.

"Mukunda, I have not seen my family in months. I have changed my
mind; perhaps later I shall visit your master in Serampore."

My friend, who may mildly be described as vacillating in temperament,
left me in Calcutta. By local train I soon reached Serampore, twelve
miles to the north.

A throb of wonderment stole over me as I realized that twenty-eight
days had elapsed since the Benares meeting with my guru. "You will
come to me in four weeks!" Here I was, heart pounding, standing
within his courtyard on quiet Rai Ghat Lane. I entered for the first
time the hermitage where I was to spend the best part of the next
ten years with India's JYANAVATAR, "incarnation of wisdom."

{FN11-1} See chapter 25.

{FN11-2} The world-famous mausoleum..

{FN11-3} A DHOTI-cloth is knotted around the waist and covers the
legs..