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any of the details, even the insights. At times, however, certain ordinary things heard or seen would form a link of association with his inner consciousness and trigger a recollection. In this way, an image from deep within him would percolate through and reappear on the surface of his mind. Soon, he was reminded of the ultimate vision he had experienced with its electrifying message: "Leave all for me! Leave all for me!"
As he grew more in touch with his surroundings and began to move his limbs and speak, he became aware of a new urge, a dream to use his energy in service to a worthy cause. At the same time, the tender friendship between Rup and Usha deepened. The two began to recognize each other as soulmates. Usha was able to melt away the uneven places disturbing his peace. As he came to know the gentle touch of a pure and platonic love, he felt encouraged and energized to put his dream into action. In part, his eagerness to work was a natural reaction to having spent so many days in bed, in a state of uncreativity, weakness, and inaction. But truly it reflected a genuine change in his consciousness. His struggle for life had sobered and humbled him. He no longer felt bound to the world of personal desires. Such desires had become thinner and thinner. What remained was a genuine feeling for life, for love, for fellow beings.
Thus it was that with Usha's loving support, Rup rediscovered his natural healthy-mindedness and joy, that kind of enthusiasm which William James has called a "cosmic emotion" and which, he found, characterized those persons whom "we find in every age passionately flinging themselves upon their sense of the goodness of life in spite of the hardships of their own condition, and in spite of the sinister theologies into which they may be born."
With this positive energy, Rup went in search of a way in which he could serve life, the cause of freedom, and his nation.
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