The Hindoos may be said to have deified this state.
Their favorite notion of a Supreme Being is that of one who reposes in
himself, in a dream of absolute quiescence. This idea is, doubtless, in
the first instance, a reflection of their own character; but, in
whatever way it originated, it tends to sanctify in their eyes a state
of repose. When removed from this world of care, their highest hope is
to become a part of the great Quiescent. It will naturally appear to
them the best preparation for the repose of a future life to cultivate
repose in this." Therefore, if your kitmudgar, nodding behind your
chair, permits his astonished fly-flapper to become a part of the great
Quiescent, or if your punka-wallah, having subsided into a comatose
beatitude, suddenly invites his compliant machine to repose in himself,
in a dream of absolute stagnation, with the thermometer at 120 deg. outside
the refrigerator, you must not say, "Damn that boy,--he's asleep
again!"--but patiently survey and intelligently admire the spiritual
processes by which an exalted sentient force prepares itself for the
repose of a future life. But our reckless Karlee took no thought for the
everlasting rest into which his soul should enter "when removed from
this world of care," according to the ingenious psychological system of
the amiable Kerr Sahib; for when he had anything to do, he kept on doing
it until it was done, and when he caught the punka-wallah reposing in a
dream of absolute quiescence, he bumped his head against the wall, and
called him a _sooa_, and a _banchut_, and a _junglee-wallah_.
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