THE BANIAN TREE. 
49 
Since I began to write this a profoundly philosophical 
friend has suggested an explanation which I do believe 
is the true one. The peculiar heart-shaped leaf of the 
Pepul is sensitive to 
the faintest breeze, and 
you will often see it 
flapping gently when 
the white clouds are 
standing still in the 
sky and not another 
tree bears witness to 
the least motion in the 
air. Now those Rishis 
were wonderful fellows, 
as Colonel Olcott 
knows. They had got 
to the very bottom of 
the well where truth is 
found ; they lived there, 
in fact. They had gOt PEPUL LEAF (Ficus Religiosa). 
the victory over delusion, and discovered that everything is 
the same as everything else, and all things are nothing and 
nothing is all things, and cause and effect are one So when 
E 
