heard, or rather
felt, as if clouds were passing by. The monkey's eyes were all
eagerness and burning with excitement, and I looked down where he
was looking. The honey-colored moon was casting slanting rays
into the jungle through dark moving clouds. We did not know what
we saw. It seemed as though two or three hundred wild elephants
in a herd were going through the jungle, or perhaps the clouds
were feeding on the leaves that night. No one knows what it was,
but we did know Silence walked by, telling us of the mysteries of
the jungle, and we could not understand.

Then out of the stillness a bird's note fell through the jungle
and there was a gleam of whiteness. That instant Silence was
lifted, dawn began to sing through the jungle and you could hear
its flute-like call fading away in the distance, followed by a
momentary hush. Then the birds began to sing, and soon the sun
came leaping over the forest like a horse of flame. This must
have taken at least an hour and a half, but we did not even know
when the elephant resumed his walk.

We soon came to a river where we stopped. I gave the elephant his
bath. The monkey went off in search of food from tree to tree.
Then I bathed myself and stood facing the East, saying these
words of prayer:

"O Blossom of Eastern Silence,
Reveal to us the face of God,
Whose shadow is this day, and
Whose light is always within us.
Lead us from the unreal to the Real,
From sound into Silence,
From darkness unto Light, and
From death into Immortality."

In India every hour has its prayer and every prayer can be said
unconsciously anywhere. Nobody notices you if you kneel down on
the road to say your prayer, in spite of the fact that you are
blocking the traffic. Religion runs like singing waters by the
shores of every human life in India.

I went to the forest nearby and got the elephant his food, and as
he started to eat I began to cook my own meal. When traveling, it
is better to cook one's own meal so that it will be clean and
uncontaminated. Very soon I saw a caravan coming. Apparently
Kopee had seen it from the tree-top as he was chattering with
great excitement to tell me it was coming. I told him to hold his
tongue because the elephant was getting restless.

I decided to go with the caravan into the town because the
caravan people knew the shortest way. I also preferred to travel
in human company rather than alone. No sooner had the carav