SINGLE-MINDEDNESS IS ANOTHER NAME FOR DEVOTION

A MAN was angling in a lake all by himself. After a
long while the float began to move. Now and then
its tip touched the water. The angler was holding
the rod tight in his hands, ready to pull it up, when
a passer-by stopped and said, "Sir, can you tell me
where Mr. Bannerji lives?' There was no reply from
the angler, who was just on the point of pulling up
the rod. Again and again the stranger said to him in
a loud voice, "Sir, can you tell me where Mr,
Bannerji lives?" But the angler was unconscious of
everything around him. His hands were trembling;
his eyes were on the float. The stranger was
annoyed and went on. When he had gone quite a
way, the angler's float sank under water and with
one pull of the rod he landed the fish. He wiped
the sweat from his face with his towel and shouted
after the stranger. "Hey!" he said, "Come here!
Listen!" But the man would not turn his face. After
much shouting, however, he came back and said to
the angler, "Why are you shouting at me?" "What
did you ask me about?" said the angler. The
stranger said, "I repeated the question so many

times, and now you are asking me to repeat it once
more!" The angler replied, "At that time my float
was about to sink: so I didn't hear a word of what
you said."
A man can achieve such single-mindedness in
meditation that he will see nothing, hear nothing.
He will not be conscious even of touch. A snake
may crawl over his body, but he will not know it.
Neither of them will be aware of the other.

THORNS DENIED PRICK NO LESS KEENLY

ONCE, finding it difficult to reconcile the
contradictory doctrines of man's free will and
God's grace two disciples of the Master went to
him for a solution of the same. The Master said,
"Why do you talk, of free will? Everything is
dependent upon the Lord's will. Our will is tied to
the Lord's, like the cow to its tether. No doubt we
have a certain amount of freedom even as the cow
has, within a prescribed circle. So man thinks that
his will is free. But know that his will is dependent
on the Lord's."
Disciples: "Is there then no necessity of practising
penance, meditation and the rest? For one can as
well sit quiet and say, "It is all God's will; whatever
is done, is done at His will."
Sri Ramakrishna: Oh! To what effect, if you simply
say that in so many words? Any amount of your
verbal denial of thorns can never save you from
their painful prick when you place your hand on
them. Had it been entirely with man to do spiritual
practices according to his will, everybody would

have done so. But no; everyone can't do it, and
why? But there is one thing: If you don't utilise
properly the amount of strength He has given you,
He never gives more. That is why self-exertion is
necessary. And so everyone has to struggle hard
even to become fit for the grace of God. By such
endeavour, and through His grace, the sufferings
of many lives can be worked out in one life. But
some self-effort is absolutely necessary. Let me tell
you a story.
Once, Vishnu, the Lord of Goloka, cursed Narada,
saying that he would be thrown into hell. At this
Narada was greatly disturbed in mind; and he
prayed to the Lord, singing songs of devotion, and
begging Him to show where hell is and how one
can go there. Vishnu then drew the map of the
universe on the ground with a piece of chalk,
representing the exact position of heaven and hell.
Then Narada said, pointing to the part marked
'hell', "Is it like this? This is hell then!" So saying he
rolled himself on the spot and exclaimed he had
undergone all the sufferings of hell. Vishnu
smilingly asked, "How is that?" and Narada replied:
"Why, Lord, are not heaven and hell Thy creation?

When Thou didst draw the map of the universe
Thyself and point out to me the hell in the plan,
then that place became a real hell; and as I rolled
myself there, my sufferings were intense. So I do
say that I have undergone the punishments of hell.
"Narada said all this sincerely and so Vishnu was
satisfied with the explanation.

NO BEGGAR, I, FOR COMMON FRUIT

JUST imagine Hanuman's state of mind. He didn't
care for money, honour, creature comforts, or
anything else. He longed only for God. When he
was running away with the heavenly weapon that
had been secreted in the crystal pillar, Mandodari
began to tempt him with various fruits so that he
might come down and drop the weapon. But he
couldn't be tricked so easily. In reply to her
persuasions he sang this song;
Am I in need of fruit?
I have the fruit that makes this life
Fruitful indeed
Within my heart
The tree of Rama grows,

Bearing salvation for its fruits
Under the wish-fulfilling Tree
Of Rama do I sit at ease
Plucking whatever fruit I will
But if you speak of fruit—
No beggar, I, for common, fruit.
Behold, I go
Leaving a bitter fruit for you

GOD ALONE IS THE GIVER

WHEN Akbar was the Emperor of Delhi there
lived a hermit in a hut in the forest. Many people
visited the holy man. At one time he felt a great
desire to entertain his visitors. But how could he
do so without money? So he decided to go to the
Emperor for help, for the gate of Akbar's palace
was always open to holy men. The hermit entered
the palace while the Emperor was at his daily
devotions and took a seat in a corner of the room.
He heard the Emperor conclude his worship with
the prayer, "O God, give me money; give me
riches", and so on and so forth. When the hermit
heard this he was about to leave the prayer hall, but
the Emperor signed to him to wait. When the
prayer was over the Emperor said to him, "You
came to see me: how is it that you were about to
leave without saying anything to me?" "Your
Majesty need not trouble yourself about it",
answered the hermit. "I must leave now." When
the Emperor insisted, the hermit said: "Many
people visit my hut, and so 1 came here to ask you
for some money." "Then", said Akbar, "why were

you going away without speaking to me?" The
hermit replied:
"I found that you too were a beggar; you too
prayed to God for money and riches. Thereupon I
said to myself:
'Why should I beg of a beggar? If I must beg, let
me beg of God."

CONCEIT IS TO DEVOTION WHAT CANKER IS TO BUDS

ONCE upon a time conceit entered into the heart
of Narada, and he thought there was no greater
devotee than himself. Reading his heart, the Lord
said: "Narada, go to such and such a place. A great
devotee of mine is living there. Cultivate his
acquaintance; for he is truly devoted to Me."
Narada went there and found an agriculturist who
rose early in the morning, pronounced the name of
Hari (God) only once and, taking his plough, went
out and tilled the ground all day long. At night he
went to bed after pronouncing the name of Hari
once more. Narada said to himself:
"How can this rustic be a lover of God? I see him
busily engaged in wordly duties, and he has no
signs of a pious man about hirn." Then Narada
went back to the Lord and spoke what he thought
of his new acquaintance. Thereupon the Lord said:
"Narada, take this cup of oil and go round this city
and come back with it.
But take care that you do not spill even a single
drop of it." Narada did as he was told, and on his

return the Lord asked him, "Well, Narada, how
many times did you remember Me in the course of
your walk round the city?" "Not once, my Lord,"
said Narada, "and how could I, when I had to
watch this cup brimming over with oil?" The Lord
then said: "This one cup of oil did so divert your
attention that even you did forget Me altogether.
But look at that rustic, who, though carrying the
heavy burden of a family, still remembers Me twice
every day."

BACK TO THE DIVINE MOTHER

A DEVOTEE, who is born with an element of
Vishnu, cannot altogether get rid of bhakti.
Once I fell into the clutches of a Jnani, who made
me listen to Vedanta for eleven months. But he
could not altogether destroy the seed of bhakti in
me. No matter where my mind wandered, it would
come back to the Divine Mother. Whenever I sang
to Her, Nangta would weep and "say, 'Ah! What
is this?' You see, he was such a great Jnani and still
he wept. Remember the popular saying that if a
man drinks the juice of the alekh creeper, a plant
grows inside his stomach.
Once the seed of Bhakti is sown, the effect is
inevitable: it will gradually grow into a tree with
flowers and fruits.

You may reason and argue a thousand times, but if
you have the seed of bhakti within you, you will
surely come back to Hari.

THAT PURE LOVE FOR GOD

IN the course of his pilgrimage through the
southern parts of India, Sri Chaitanya Deva came
across a certain devotee who was in tears all the
while a pundit was reading from the Gita. Now
this devotee knew not even a single word of the
Gita. On being asked why lie shed tears, he replied,
"It is indeed true that I do not know a word of the
Gita. But all the while it was being read, 1 could
not help seeing with my inner eye the beautiful
form of my Lord Sri Krishna seated before Arjuna
in a chariot in the field of Kurukshetra, and giving
out all those sublime thoughts embodied in the
Gita. This it was that filled my eyes with tears of
joy and love."
This man who knew not letters, had the highest
Knowledge, for he had pure love for God and
could realize Him.