Sorrow is an emotion which is not content to exist merely as a certain frame of the mind. It seeks to find an outlet in the performance of some difficult task. Daily contact with Nalinaksha had laid bare to Hemamalini her own failings of character and she strove passionately to follow in the track that he had indicated. As time went on she became more and more enamored of the idea of subjecting herself, after the fashion of a devotee, to a stern self-discipline which in itself would serve as a support.
Hemamlini found a great relief when she formed the resolution to follow in Nalinaksha's footsteps and subject herself to an austere ordinance and a fleshless diet. In pursuance of her decision she stripped her room bare. Carpet and rugs were lifted and stored away, and her bed was hidden behind a screen. Every day she sprinkled water on the floor with her own hands and swept it clean. A flower-bowl was the only ornament that she retained. After bathing she would dress in spotless white and seat herself on the floor, while the sunshine poured unobstructed through the open windows and flooded the room, and she steeped her whole being in the light and winds of heaven.
Annada Babu could not rise to the same height of religious ecstasy as as his daughter, but he rejoiced at the radiance that her self-imposed discipline imparted to Hemamalini's face. When Nalinaksha visited the house it was on the floor of Hemamalini's room that the trio sat and held converse.
Jogendra voiced his disapproval loudly. "I don't know what has come over you all," he snarled. "Between the three of you you've made nearly the whole house holy ground ; there's hardly a spot where a fellow like me can set foot."
Hemamalini would have been offended deeply by her brother's taunts, but now, though Annada Babu's temper occasionally gave way under the lash of Jogendra's sarcasm, Hemamalini followed Nalinaksha's lead and merely smiled sweetly. That her acquaintances derided her austerity as mere eccentricity she new full well, but her trust in Nalinaksha and her admiration for his ideals armed her against all mankind and she faced the world unabashed.
One morning she had bathed and finished her devotions and was sitting in the solitude of her chamber before the open window, absorbed in meditation, when Annada Babu ushered in Nalinaksha. Hemamalini's heart was full to overflowing. With a gesture of reverence, due only to an honored parent or a venerated preceptor, she prostrated herself before each in turn and touched the dust of their feet, much to Nalinaksha's confusion.
Annada Babu, however, reassured him. "Don't be embarrassed, Nalinaksha Babu," he said, "she is only doing what is right."
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