Once a young man leapt on the train which was carrying me out of Singapore and insisted on travelling with me all the way to Penang. He was somewhat excited and declared that he felt a strong urge to renounce the world and that he wanted to attach himself to my service forthwith as the inauguration of such a new life of retreat and meditation. I gave him what good counsel I could but, being defeated in his purpose with me, he ignored it and emigrated to South India where he joined a certain monastic Ashram. A year later he was home again in Singapore, disappointed in his expectations of it and still far from the peace he sought. In chastened mood, he wrote me a letter belatedly promising to follow the counsel I had originally given him--to do some necessary preparatory work on himself while in the world before he tried to leave the world.
-- Notebooks Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 4 : Retreat Centres > # 75
