THE SINCERE DEVOTION

~ 21 ~ When he was seriously ill, the doctors advised him to refrain from speaking, but he said, “I prefer to die while exhorting people to the path of the Lord, than to take rest for the recovery of my own health.” As his health deteriorated, he received repeated inquiries about it. Replying to one of his friends, he writes: “I have no pain except that of preaching.” It greatly distressed him to learn that only the less educated have surrendered themselves to his fold. On his deathbed, he writes with great pain: “Would that the religious scholars were to take up the cause before I passed away.” Once while saying his prayers in the train, his colleagues stopped others from passing in front of him. When he had finished his prayers, he showed his resentment and said, “You had better set up a Sutrah*. This was because of his great consideration for others. *Something put up before one engaged in prayer to prevent others from intruding upon the worshippers’