by Thy side, if there is in me pure devotion to Thee, if I am in the company of those who are Thy servants, then this samsāra is itself salvation
tvam cet prasīdasi tavāsmi samīpatas cet tvayy asti bhaktir anaghā kari-śaila-nātha samsṛjyate yadi ca dāsajanas tvadīyaḥ samsāra eṣa bhagavan apavarga eva
² Cp St Paul: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ Epistle to the Philippians II 12–13
The seventeenth-century Platonist, Norris, writes: ‘The solitary and contemplative man sits as safe in his retirement as one of Homer’s heroes in a cloud, and has this only trouble from the follies and extravagances of men, that he pities them. I think it advisable for every man that has sense and thoughts enough to be his own companion (for certainly there is more required to qualify a man for his own company than for other men’s), to be as frequent in his retirements as he can, and to communicate as little with the world as is consistent with the duty of doing good, and the discharge of the common offices of humanity.’