SHE CAME AND WENT AWAY

BY the roadside on the way to Kamarpukur is
Ranjit Raya's lake. Bhagavati the Divine Mother,
was born as his daughter. Even now people hold
an annual festival there in the month of Chaitra, in
honour of this divine daughter.
Ranjit Raya was the landlord of that part of the
country. Through the power of his tapasya he
obtained the Divine Mother as his daughter. He
was very fond of her, and she too was much
attached to him; she hardly left his presence. One
day Ranjit Raya was engaged in the duties of his
estate. He was very busy. The girl, with her
childlike nature, was constantly interrupting him,
saying: "Father, what is this? What is that?" Ranjit
Raya tried, with sweet words, to persuade her not
to disturb him, and said: "My child, please leave me
alone. I have much work to do." But the girl
would not go away. At last absent-mindedly, the
father said, "Get out of here!" On this pretext she
left home. A pedlar of conch-shell articles was
going along the road. From him she took a pair of
bracelets for her wrists. When he asked for the
price, she said that he could get the money from a
certain box in her home. Then she disappeared.
Nobody saw her again. In the meantime the pedlar
came to the house and asked for the price of his
bracelets. When she was not to be found at home,
her relatives began to run about looking for her.
Ranjit Raya sent people in all directions to search
for her. The money owed to the pedlar was found
in the box, as she had indicated. Ranjit Raya was
weeping bitterly, when people came running to him
and said that they had noticed something in the
lake. They all ran there and saw an arm, with
conch-shell bracelets on the wrist, being waved
above the water. A moment afterwards it
disappeared. Even now people worship her as the
Divine Mother at the time of the annual festival
By dint of austerity, a man may obtain God as his
son. God reveals Himself in many ways;
sometimes as man, sometimes in other divine
forms made of spirit.

FEW, VERY FEW ARE THEY

A RICH man said to his servant: "Take this
diamond to the market and let me know how
different people price it. Take it, first of all, to the
egg-plant seller." The servant took the diamond to
the egg-plant seller. He examined it, turning it over
in the palm of his hand, and said, "Brother, I can
give nine seers of egg-plant, for it." "Friend," said
the servant, "a little more say, ten seers." The eggplant
seller replied: "No, I have already quoted
above the market price. You may give it to me if
that price suits you." The servant laughed. He
went back to his master and said: "Sir, he would
give me only nine seers of egg-plants and not one
more. He said he had offered more than the
market price." The master smiled and said:
"Now take it to the cloth dealer. The other man
deals only in egg plants. What does he know
about a diamond? The cloth-dealer has a little
more capital. Let us see how much he offers for
it." The servant went to the cloth dealer and said:
"Will you buy this? How much will you pay for
it?" The merchant said: "Yes, it is a good thing.
I can make a nice ornament out of it. I will give
you nine hundred rupees for it." "Brother," said
the servant, "offer a little more and J will sell it to
you. Give me at least a thousand rupees." The
cloth-dealer said: "Friend, don't press me for
more. I have offered more than the market price.
I cannot give a rupee more. Suit yourself."
Laughing, the servant returned to his master and
said: "He won't give a rupee more than nine
hundred. He too said he had quoted above the
market price." The master said with a laugh:
"Now take it to a jeweller, Let us see what he has
to say." The servant went to the jeweller. The
jeweller glanced at the diamond and said at once, "I
will give you one hundred thousand rupees for it."
One offers a price for an article according to one's
capital. Can all comprehend the Indivisible
Satchidananda? Only twelve rishis could recognize
Ramachandra. All cannot recognise an Incarnation
of God. Some take him for an ordinary man, some
for a holy person, and only a few recognise him as
an Incarnation.

STRIP NAME AND FORM AND LOOK BEYOND

ONCE a sadhu placed his disciple in a magnificent
garden with the intention of imparting to him the
knowledge of the real Self and went away. After a
few clays he came back and asked the disciple, "Do
you feel any want, my boy?" On being answered in
the affirmative, he left with him a fair woman
named Shyarna, and advised him to take fish and
meat freely. After a considerable time he came
again and asked the same question as before. This
time the disciple replied, "No, I have no want,
thank you". The sadhu then called both the disciple
and Shyama to him and pointing to Shyama's
hands, asked the disciple, "Can you tell me what
these are?" "Why, these are Shyama's hands",
replied the disciple. He put the same question
several times, pointing to Shyama's eyes, nose, and
other parts of the body, and the disciple gave
appropriate answers. Presently the idea struck the
disciple, "I am talking of everything as Shyama's
'this' and Shyama's 'that'. What then is this
Shyaraa?" Bewildered, he asked his Guru the
question, "But who is this Shyama to whom belong
these eyes, ears and the rest?" The sadhu said, ''If
you wish to know who this Shyama is, come with
me, and I will enlighten you". So saying, he
revealed to him the secret.

GOD ALONE HAS BECOME ALL THINGS

AT one time Rama was overpowered by the spirit
of renunciation. Dasaratha, worried at this, went to
the sage Vasistha and begged him to persuade
Rama not to give up the world. The sage came to
Rama and found him in a gloomy mood. The fire
of intense renunciation had been raging in the
Prince's mind. Vasistha said: "Rama, why should
you renounce the world? Is the world outside
God? Reason with me." Rama realized that the
world had evolved from the supreme Brahman. So
he said nothing.

HOW A MONK KNEW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD

A certain monk went to the temple of Jagannath at
Puri. He had doubts as to whether God is with
form or without form. When he saw the holy
image, he desired to examine it and settle his
doubt. He passed his staff from the left to the right
in order to feel if it touched the image. For a time,
he could not see anything or feel anything with the
staff. So he decided that God was without form.
When he was about to pass the staff from the right
to the left, it touched the image.
So the monk decided that God is both with form
and without form.

WHAT THE DIVINE MOTHER REVEALED TO ME

Do you know where those who speak of the
formless God make their mistake? It is where
they say that God is formless only, and that those
who differ from them .are wrong.
But I know God is both with and without form.
And he may have many more aspects. It is possible
for Him to be everything.
The Chitsakti, Mahamaya, has become the twenty
four cosmic principles. One day as I was
meditating, my mind wandered away to Rashke's
house. He is a scavenger. I said to my mind, 'Stay
there, you rogue!'
The Divine Mother revealed to me that the men
and women in this house were mere masks; inside
them was the same Divine Power, Kundalini that
rises up through the six spiritual centres of the
body.

MAN WITH A TUB OF DYE

NATURALLY the doubt arises in the mind: if
God is formless, how then can He have form?
Further, if He has a form, why does He have so
many forms?
These things do not become clear until one has
realized God. He assumes different forms and
reveals Himself in different ways for the sake of
His devotees.
A man kept a solution of dye in a tub. Many people
came to him to have their clothes dyed. He would
ask a customer, "What colour should you like to
have your cloth dyed?" If the customer wanted red,
then the man would dip the cloth in the tub and
say, "Here is your cloth dyed red." ff another
customer wanted his cloth dyed yellow, the man
would dip his cloth in the same tub and say, "Here
is your cloth dyed yellow." If a customer wanted
his cloth dyed blue, the man would dip it in the
same tub and say, "Here is your cloth dyed blue."
Thus he would dye the clothes of his customers
different colours, dipping them all in the same
solution. One of the customers watched all this
with amazement. The man asked him, "Well! What
colour do you want for your cloth?" The customer
said, "Brother, dye my cloth the colour of the dye
in your tub."