Our village priest¹⁴

Every evening our village priest and a relative of his would come and sit right in front of our door. For half an hour they would chant “Aum Narayana Narayana Narayana” to bring down Lord Vishnu’s blessings. They did not talk at all. Afterwards they would smoke and have something to eat, and then they would go. Both of them were very, very sincere and devoted. They chanted only “Aum Narayana Aum Narayana” — nothing else.

This was our main priest. His son-in-law was by far the greatest scholar, astrologer, philosopher and palmist in the village.