“I had sent you a book which is the result of my long study of the Vedânta Philosophy. You can easily imagine that I, being a Hindu Brâhman, can be said to have fully realized the truth of the doctrine therein discussed, when I can give you patent proofs of the effect which that study has had on me. There are, as you well know, four Â_s_ramas prescribed by our _S_âstras, and the Brâhmans are required to successively pass through them all, if they can do so. But in this Kaliyuga people are not very particular about it. The second Â_s_rama, namely that of G_ri_hastha (householder), is more or less enjoyed by all, and there are some who enter into the third or fourth order. Fortunately for myself I have attained an old age by which I was enabled to fulfil the requirements of the _S_âstras, and thus lead a life of the third order after I left public life. “Now my health is failing fast, and to finish the whole I have made up my mind to enter into the fourth order or Â_s_rama—namely, that of Sa_m_nyâsin. Thereby I shall attain that stage in life when I shall be free from all the cares and anxieties of this world, and shall have nothing to do with my present circumstances in life. “After leading a public life for more than sixty years, I think there is nothing left for me to desire except the life of a Sa_m_nyâsin, which will enable my Âtman (Self) to be one with Paramâtman (highest Self), as shown to us by the enlightened of old. When this is accomplished a man is free from births and rebirths; and what can I wish more than that which will free me from births and rebirths, and give me means to attain Moksha (freedom)? “My learned friend, in a few days I shall be a Sa_m_nyâsin, and thus there will be a total change of life. I shall no more be able to address you in this style, so I send you this letter to convey my best wishes for your success in life, and my regards, which you so well deserve. “After this, as you have so well said in your note, you and I will be not two persons, and as the Âtman which, being all-pervading, is one, there is total absence of duality. I shall end this note with the same words which you have mentioned, G_ñ_âtvâ Deva_m_ sarvapâ_s_âpahâni_h_, ‘When God has been known, all fetters fall.’” I heard no more of him except indirectly, when his son sent me a copy of the Bhagavad-gîtâ as a present from his father, who was no longer Gaurî-_s_a_m_kara then, but Sa_kk_idânanda, that is, the Supreme Spirit, i.e. he “who is, who perceives, and is blessed.”