First Grain of Sand — Page 141
TRANSFER TO MOSCOW 125 escorting me offered me many apples to eat and said in Russian 'яблоко съесть' [pronounced yabloko s'yest], which means 'eat an apple. Apple is an excellent fruit, and when I took it my heart felt overwhelmed. Tears came to my eyes as I prayed to God Almighty for how kind He is to continually confer upon me so many favours without me even asking for a thing. When the train left the Tashkent station, I saw the houses in the nearby areas of the city. In every house, I noticed plants and fruit trees, which appeared very beautiful to me. At that moment, I was reminded of the pure village of Qadian, thinking that even there, the devotees must have planted some trees in their homes. As the train moved forward, the three of us two officers and myself-rode in that coach, and I quietly recited this couplet from a poem of the Promised Messiah as over and over, as a strange and wonderful state of love for God overtook me: اک تری قید محبت ہے جو کر دے رستگار اس جہاں میں خواہش آزادگی بے سود ہے The pursuit of freedom in this temporary world is futile. If there is anything, it is the sweet shackles of your love that might set me free. Meaning: O God, this world is a house of trials and tribu- lations, and salvation is impossible here. Yet if, out of Your grace and mercy, You fasten the shackles of Your love and affection on my hands and feet, that will be a true life and even heaven. I kept humming and reading the poetry of the Promised Messiahas, when one of the Russian officers asked me in Russian what I was reading, and I told him it was poetry.