________________ 432 Homage to Vaisali of the accursed Satan who was rejected on this very ground. Those who serve as the slipper-bearer of the men of God do discover the subterfuges of ego and their bidden infidelity". In the end, the saintly author says that all that he has written represents his own condition and is based on his personal experiences. He has exposed the fraud and subterfuges of his own self. He concludes with a couplet : "Those who sce through my self-conceit, even if they be hard drunkards, they will refrain from keeping company with me.. Were I to lay bare my real conditions before a dog, even that animal would begin to abstain from me.". ii. Ways of Procuring Lawful Food Writing about the ways of procuring lawful food so as to sustain life and strength in order to perform special acts of devotion such as Zikr (recital), Aurad (devotional exercises) etc., the saint makes special mention of dry bread or Bhat khushk (boiled rice) and Asham Biranj (rice gruel) with which one can break one's fast and says that one can, without any violence to one's conscience, borrow grain from non-believers, and pay off the debt as soon as one gets something from one's own arable fields or trade. He compares in this connection the state of things obtaining in bis own days with that in the time of the celebrated saint of Bihar Sharif whose next-door neighbour, a Hindu grocer, used to supply grain for the expenses of the Khanqah up to the value of 1000 Tankas after which the whole debt was cleared off. "These days," he laments, "guch a thing is difficult", and therefore, one has to remain content with only getting a loan of bare necessity which can easily be paid off from grain grown in the field or money acquired through trade or lawful means. At any rate, one should be quite fair and above board in one's dealings with others. It is due to the purity of character as much as to spiritual advancement that a man of God has effectiveness in his prayers. iii. Real means of attaining God The author bere relates a story which is of cultural importance. Some
