Volume 3 / Part 3 — Gondhali
Reading edition
Where I come from and who am I,
This mystery none has solved;
Father, mother, sister and brother, these are all illusions.
I call them mine and am lost in my selfish concerns.
Worldliness is the beginning of hell, man has wrapped himself in it without reason.
Remember your guru, go to him and touch his feet.
Put on the shield of mercy and compassion and take the sword of knowledge.
God is in every human body.
The caste beg between dawn and noon, wearing a long white or red robe and a red turban folded from twisted strings of cloth like the Marāthas. Their status is somewhat low, but they are usually simple and honest. Occasionally a man becomes a Gondhali in fulfilment of a vow without leaving his own caste; he will then be initiated by a member of the caste and given the necklace of cowries, and on every Tuesday he will wear this and beg from five persons in honour of the goddess Devi; while except for this observance he remains a member of his own caste and pursues his ordinary business.