Elisha, on the other hand, was a man of cheerful disposition and was more concerned about matters of the soul. There is nothing more precious than the soul, he intoned in a bid to persuade Efim, to fulfil the vow. When Efim came up with a new excuse of having empty pockets, Elisha gave the lie to his fabrication. Said he: you have ten times as much as I, and yet you talk about money. About himself he was sure that though he had nothing at the time, he would have enough by then(the time they start).
After a lot of deliberations, Efim finally gave in. They decided to start on the journey, a week later. Efim had money ready at hand. Elisha scraped it up selling some of his hives. His wife and daughter in law also contributed to the kitty. On the appointed day, they were seen off at the edge of the village, by their respective families. It was to be a long and arduous journey, on foot upto Odessa, a substantial distance that will take them months to cover, then by ship to Jeffa, and again on foot for forty miles to Jerusalem. Efim's heart lay back in his household cares. He was overwary of his son, should he squander his hard earned wealth, in his absence. At one point he almost wanted to turn back.
Elisha journeyed on in a rejoicing mood. He had assured his wife: You are the master and will know how to do what's best for yourselves. Presently, his only care was how to please his comrade, how to avoid saying a rude word to anyone, how to get to his destination and home again in peace and love. Walking along the road, Elisha would either whisper a prayer to himself or go over in his mind the lives of the saints as he was able to remember. His only other diversion was taking a pinch of snuff, now and then. In the first leg of their journey they covered 500 miles in five weeks. They then entered Little Russia, which nowadays goes by the name of Ukraine. Their homemade shoes were worn out by then and they had to replace them by new ones.
While they travelled through Great Russia, they had been buying their own food, but in Little Russia, people vied with each other in asking them to their huts where they were fed gratis. They even stuffed their bags with bread and cakes, for them to eat on the road. However, shortly afterwards they reached a district where the harvest had failed and people were driven to abject misery. While making their way through a village, Elisha who was not as good a walker as Efim, wanted to stop for a drink of water, but Efim would not. So he said to Efim: You go on, but I'll just run to the little hut there. I will catch you up in a moment.
While Efim followed the high road, Elisha turned towards the hut. As he entered the enclosure of the hut, he saw an emaciated young man lying on the ground, outside the door of the hut. He asked him for a drink of water but got no response from him. Elisha then knocked at the door of the hut with the ring that served as the door handle. After sometime, which appeared quite long to him, all that he heard was a groan. Dear me, some misfortune must have happened to the people ? I had better have a look, he said to himself and turned the ring. The door was not locked. He entered the hut.
He was met with a blast of foul air. An old woman sat on a bench with her head laid on the table, while a gaunt little boy pulled at her sleeve. On the floor lay a semi-deliriant woman tossing her legs. The foul smell came from her, as there was no one who could help her. The old woman lifted her head and said, What do you want man ? We have nothing. Elisha told her that he had come there for a drink of water. There is no one--no one--we have nothing to fetch it in. Go your way, he heard her saying. Is there no one among you, then, well enough to attend to that woman ? demanded Elisha. No, we have no one. My son is dying outside, and we are dying in here, said the old woman. The little boy whined: bread, granny, bread.
By then, the old woman's son had managed to stagger into the hut and unable to hold himself, slumped in a heap by the door. Illness has seized us, and famine, said the man. Pointing towards the little boy, he said: He is dying of hunger...and began to sob. Elisha pulled the knapsack off his back and put it on the bench. He untied the strings and took out a loaf of bread. He then cut off a slice and gave it to the boy. By then his sister who had crept behind the stove on seeing a stranger, also came out. Elisha gave one to her. When he gave one to the old woman, she said their mouths were parched. If only some water could be brought.
Elisha immediately went out and brought a pail full of water, after gaining information about the well and the pail. The young man and his wife, were too sick to eat bread. Elisha, therefore, went to the grocer's shop and bought some millet, salt, flour, and oil. He found an axe, chopped some wood, and made a fire. Then he boiled some soup and gave the starving people their first meal in weeks ! Yes, when they had pledged their 3 acres, and were in debt of money, flour, and bread, they begged, scraped food, and finally started eating grass, which is what gave the man and his wife sickness, Elisha was to learn later on.
The man and his mother ate some and the rest was licked clean by the children, who curled up and fell asleep in each other's arms, soonafter. Elisha gave up the thought of catching up with Efim. Instead he thought of replacing cooking utensils, clothes, and rations. He would wait for the family to pick up strength, so they could look after themselves, he mused. Children were the first to recover, then the old woman and her son also improved, but the wife gained consciousness only on the third day and then she asked for food. The fourth day happened to be St. Peter's day. Elisha thought of breaking bread with the family. So he brought milk, and flour, and helped the old woman bake for the feast. On the feast day, Elisha went to church, and then broke the fast with the family. The young wife got up and moved about, and the young man shaved and put on a clean shirt, washed by his mother, and went to beg for mercy from the rich man. He wanted permission to use his meadow and farmland till after the harvest, but the rich man didn't relent. He wanted money.
Elisha had thought of moving out after the feast. But now he became thoughtful. If he left them halfway, the family would slide back to the state, he had found them in, without the cornfield. So he told himself: Tomorrow I will redeem their cornfield, and will buy them a horse, and flour to last till the harvest, and a cow for the little ones; or else while I go to seek the Lord beyond the sea I may lose Him in myself. This is what he did and then turned back to his home, as there was not enough money left for him to continue on the journey. The present is only an interface between the past and the future. So there is no elbow room for vagrant thoughts to enter into. To be present in the present is to become silent and descend into the very depths of our being. Osho encapsulates the whole purport beautifully :
Be silent and know
You've nowhere to go.
Om Shantih
