alms loved and respected him; so when they saw the English sol-
diers being very meddlesome, they became concerned for his safety.
They hurriedly took him deep into the mountains and hid him
in a place where they decided the English would not be able to
find him. But eventually a contingent of English soldiers did come
across him there, just as he was giving a blessing to a group of vil-
lagers. The villagers were crestfallen. Questioned by the soldiers,
Ãcariya Chob told them that he had been living in Burma for a
long time and was never involved in politics. He said that being a
monk, he knew nothing about such matters. The villagers spoke
up in his defense to say that, unlike lay people, monks had noth-
ing to do with the war, so it would be wrong to try to involve him
in any way. They warned the soldiers that, should they take any
action against him, it would amount to hurting the feelings of the
Burmese people who had done nothing wrong. It would unnec-
essarily damage relations with the local population, which would
be a grave mistake. They assured the soldiers that he had been
living there since long before the war began and knew nothing
about international affairs. Even though their country was now
in a state of war, the Burmese people did not view this monk as a
threat of any kind. Thus, if the soldiers were to harm him, it would
be tantamount to harming the whole of the Burmese nation. The
Burmese people could never condone such an action.
The contingent of English soldiers stood talking among
themselves about what to do with Ãcariya Chob. After discussing
his case for about half an hour, they told the villagers to quickly
take him away to another location, for if another army patrol
came and spotted him, there could be trouble. Should their pleas
be rejected the next time, his life might well be in danger. While
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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