plunged

"Bala!" Balananda heard his name being called from behind him. He turned.

There came those bounding cubs.

"Want to come meet our best friend?" they called to him. "We are just going to see him."

Balanandaswami pictured some exuberant little creature, very much like them. Perhaps a cute little wolfcub who knew physics and could do pawsprings.

"Alright," he said, coming down from the rock.

"Hurry!" they called, taking off like Olympic track stars.

"What's the rush?" he shouted after them.



"When he calls us, we don't like to delay," they explained over their shoulders, not slowing down a bit.

Called? He had not heard the call of any little cub or pup. They must have very sharp hearing.

He was running so fast to keep up he hardly knew which direction they were going in.

Then they all skidded to a stop. Balanandaswami looked up.

There was the young Swami. His eyes were huge and luminous. Balanandaswami looked into them, and plunged into a pool of bliss. His mind vanished.



The cubses watched this happily and asked Brahmana Swami, "Is he yours now?"

The young swami smiled and his eyes said: "He always was, and he always will be."

Balanandaswami remained perfectly still, drowned in the ecstasy of Brahmana Swami's grace.