One day Isa Dás found the kahar in very low spirits, tears flowing down his hollow cheeks. Isa Dás sat down on the sick man's charpai (bed), and gently asked him, "O brother! What sorrow is pressing on your heart?"
Gopal only groaned in reply.
"Is the pain in your chest greater than usual?"
The question had to be repeated before any answer was given.
Then said Gopal, "It is not the pain that I cannot endure; I know that it cannot last very long. You see yon crescent moon in the sky? Before she reaches the full, I know that my funeral pile will be lighted." And he gave a heavy sigh.
"Do you ever think of what will come to your soul after death?" inquired the Christian.
"It is that which troubles me," groaned the Hindu, who could no longer refrain from pouring out his griefs. "I don't know through how many of the eight million four hundred thousand transmigrations I may already have passed. I have had no time for pilgrimages, and no disposition for contemplation. I have led an active life, and have never spent many pice on feeding Brahmins. And, what is worse than all—" he stopped and looked anxiously around, as if afraid of being overheard.
"No one else is near, you may speak freely," said Isa Dás. As Gopal remained silent, he suggested, "Perhaps you have been tempted to steal?"
The sick kahar shook his head.
"Perhaps you have borne false witness in a court of justice?"