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the situation was clear. So when he happened to meet her on the walkway as he returned from the temple that afternoon, he spoke to her without hesitation, apologized to her, and explained the entire story to her.
She responded by opening her heart to him. She told him, "Seeing you every morning sitting so calmly and then receiving your warm greeting gave me inspiration to change my life completely. I made up my mind to stop drinking and earning my living in such a degrading way. But yesterday morning I too was not at the window, so I didn't even know that you had not sent your greeting. The night before I became very depressed and again drowned my sorrow in wine. I became drunk and went back on my resolve to change my life. Some men met me and I accepted their offers. Somehow after that night of despair, my strength and willpower steadily returned. I woke up fully renewed after a deep and restful sleep. When I saw you this morning it gave me the heart to continue and reaffirm my decision to look for a new and healthy way of living."
Gurudev knew of one weaving village where she could get a job in cottage industries. He helped place her there, and from then on, she led a productive healthy life, and came to respect herself again.
In his diary, he wrote out of compassion,
"Does the way seem too long? Are the clouds dark and threatening? Take heart, O weary traveler! There's no cloud so dark that it has not a silver lining; there's no night so black that a star is not shining somewhere!"
Gurudev began to take interest in the lot of prostitutes, in spite of criticism from fellow monks. From this one example of how one person's positive thinking could affect another person's entire life, he saw that it was possible to influence many such women and help them become aware of their power to throw off the shackles binding them to degrading conditions. He encouraged them to lead new and wholesome lives.
He observed how the unenlightened mind can be deceived by appearance. In one of his talks, he spoke to this point.
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