Letter to his Father-in-law

                                                                                                                    Pondicherry

the 19th February, 1919

My dear Father-in-law,

               I have not written to you with regard to this fatal event in both our lives: words are useless in face of the feelings it has caused, if even they can ever express our deepest emotions. God has seen good to lay upon me the one sorrow that could still touch me to the centre. He knows better than ourselves what is best for each of us, and now that the first sense of the irreparable has passed, I can bow with submission to his divine purpose. The physical tie between us is, as you say, severed; but the tie of affection subsists for me. Where I have once loved, I do not cease from loving. Besides she who was the cause of it, still is near though not visible to our physical vision.
               It is needless to say much about the matters of which you write in your letter. I approve of everything that you propose. Whatever Mrinalini would have desired, should be done, and I have no doubt this is what she would have approved of. I consent to the chudis (The bangles worn by a Hindu wife as a sign of her marriage which she discards if the husband dies.) being kept by her mother; but I should be glad if you would send me two or three of her books, especially if there are any in which her name is written. I have only of her, her letters and a photograph.

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