WHERE SILENCE IS ELOQUENT AND SPEECH DOTH FALTER

A MAN had two sons. The father sent them to a

preceptor to learn the knowledge of Brahman.

After a few years they returned from their

preceptor's house and bowed low before their

father. Wanting to measure the depth of their

knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the

older of the two boys. "My child," he said "you

have studied all the scriptures. Now, tell me, what

is the nature of Brahman?" The boy began to

explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the

Vedas. The father did not say anything. Then he

asked the younger son the same question. But the

boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down.

No word escaped his lips. The father was pleased

and said to him: "My child, you have understood a

little of Brahman. What It is cannot be expressed

in words."

FOUR FRIENDS LOOKED BEYOND

ONCE four friends, in the course of a walk, saw a

place enclosed by a wall. The wall was very high.

They all became eager to know what was inside.

One of them climbed to the top of the wall. What

he saw on looking inside made him speechless with

wonder. He only cried, 'Ah! Ah!' and dropped in.

He could not give any information about what he

saw. The others too climbed the wall, uttered the

same cry, 'Ah! Ah!' and jumped in. Now who

could tell what was inside!

What Brahman is cannot be described. Even he

who knows it cannot talk about it

A SALT DOLL WENT TO FATHOM THE OCEAN

ONCE, a salt doll went to measure the depth of

the ocean. It wanted to tell others how deep the

water was. But this it could never do, for no

sooner did it get into the water than it melted.

Now, who was there to report the ocean's depth?

What Brahman is cannot be described. In samadhi

one attains the knowledge of Brahman—one

realises Brahman. In that state reasoning stops

altogether, and man becomes mute. He has no

power to describe the nature of Brahman.

A GHOST SOUGHT A COMPANION

A GHOST sought a companion. It is said that a

man who dies on a Saturday or Tuesday becomes a

ghost, Therefore, whenever the ghost saw anybody

fall from a roof or stumble and faint on the road

on either side of those days, he would run to him,

hoping that the man, through an accidental death,

would become a ghost and be his companion. But

such was his ill luck that everyone revived. The

poor thing could not get a companion.

It is very difficult to find a person who has totally

renounced the world.

WHEN RENUNCIATION BECOMES THE LIFE-BREATH

No Spiritual progress is possible without the

renunciation of 'woman and gold'. I renounced

these three; land, wife and wealth. Once I went to

the Registry office to register some land, the title of

which was in the name of Raghuvir28. The officer

asked me to sign my name; but I did not do it

because I couldn't feel that it was 'my' land. I was

shown much respect as the guru of Keshab Sen.

They presented me with mangoes, but I couldn't

carry them home. A Sannyasi cannot lay things up.

How can one expect to attain God without

renunciation? Suppose one thing is placed upon

another; how can you get the second without

removing the first?