Rcaz,:sation of the Divine 38

:/
'. with him. In the meantime, a young cohra came out _p�· ?,
'. raf..hole and bit the son. Seeing that, the father was terribly
·,,-frightened and began to ca)! all the people around. But
, the son sat quiet, and that ptizzled the father still more.
•
When he asked the son why he was sitting quiet, the son
11 laughed and _was heard to explain, "Which is the snake

·, and w!Tmfl ha; 1I bitten?" He had realised the Unity, and

'. hence he c�mld not m,le any distinction between a man and ll
e
, • a snake.
1115. An outcaste was carrying baskets if meat from
a !.laughter-house. On the way he mel Sankaracharya who
was returning afteit his hath in the sacred Ganges. It
chanced that the oulcaste touched the person of the holy
man. Sankara was offended and cried out, " You have
touched me, sirrah I " The outcaste replied, " Sir, neither
have. I. touched you, nor have you touched me ! Please
reason- with me and say whether your true Self is the body
or the mind or the intellect : tell me what you truly are.
You know that the true Self is not attached to any of the
tliree Gunas of Nature, Sattva, Rajas and Titrnas." T�n
Sankara was abashed and had the true awakening. l
fl 16. Once a Sadhu placed his disciple in a magni­
ficent garden with the intention of imparting9 to him tht>..
knowledge of the real Self and went away. After a fe�
<lays he came back and asked the disciple, " 90 yo��teel
afiy want, my boy? " On being answered i� the affirmative,
"he left with him a fair woman named Shyama, and advised
him to take fish and.._me:t fre�. .After a considerable
· tilne he t!ame ag<'¥1 '1,d asked the same question.as bC,:\lre.
r Tl.is time the clisci1�le rep� '•No, I have no want,\iank>
,�88 Sayings of S1:i Ramakrishna ·
y<w." The Sadhu then called both the disciple and
Shyama to him and pointing to Shyama' s hands, asked �he
disciple, "Can you tell me wh(lt these are?" "Why, these
are Shyama' s hands," replied the disciple. He out the same
question several times, pointing to Shyama· s eyes, nose and
other parts of the body, and the disciple gaye appropriate
answers. Presently the idea struc_k the disciple, " I am
.'alking of everything as Shyama' s ' this ' and Shyama' s
• that '. What then is this Shyama? " B;wildered, he·
asked his 'iuru the question, " But who is this Shyama to
whom belong these eyes, ears and the rest?" The Sa-lhu
said, " If you wish to know who this �hyama is, come with
me, and I will enlighten you... So saying, he revealed to
him the secret.
1117. A certain father had two sons. When they were
old enough, they were admitted to the first stage .of life
(Brahmacharya), and placed under the care of a religious
preceptor to study the Vedas. After a long time the boys
returned home, having finished their studies. Their father
r
a�ed them if they had read the Vedanta. On the;r
rep1ying in the affirmative, he asked, "Well, tell me what
is Brahman." The elder son, quoting the Vedas and other
, scriptures,"' replied : " 0 Father, It i.s beyond words and
t�1ought. It is so and so. I know it all." And to support
wh�6 he Sf,id, he again quoted Vedantic texts.
" So you ha"e known Brahman I " said the father, " ybu
rriay go about your business." , Then he asked the younger•
son the same question..., But the: !-.oY remained silent ; 'not
a v:·,�rd ca:ne out of his mouth, nor di:a l:e make any attempt
to ;peak. At this the father repiar�ed : " Yes, my boy,
 Realisation o/ the n1:vinc 883/
you are right. Nothing can be predicated of the Absclute'
an;ll the Unconditioned. No sooner do you ·talk of It than
you state the Infinite in terms of the finite, the Absolute in
terms of t�t relative, the Unconditioned in terms of the
conditioned. Your silence is more eloquent than the recita­
tion of a. hundred verses and the quoting of a hundred
authoritic; �-
1118. A ' learned bralunin once went to a wise king and
1

· said, " I am well-versed, 0 king, in the holy scriptures. I

intend lo teach you the Bhagavata." The king, who was
the wiser of the two, knew well that a man who had really
studied the Bhagav'ata would seek to know his own Self
rather than go to a king's court for wealth and honour. So
the king replied, " I see, 0 Brahmin, that you yourself have
not mastered that book thoroughly. I promise to make
you my tutor, but first learn the scripture well." The
Brahmin went his way, thinking, "How foolish it is of the
king to say that I have not mastered the Bhagavata, seeing
that I have been reading the book over and over all these '
, '
years." However, he went through the book care•
fullr once more and appeared again before the king. The
king told him the same thing again and sent; him away.
The Brahmin was-, sorely vexed, but thought that thert
must be some meaning in the behaviour of the king. , rte
went home, shut himself up in his room and app'.ied himself
�ore than ever to the study of the b00k. By and hy
1
hi1den meanings began to flash into his mind and the vanity
•of running after the � �hies of '\ridies and honour, kings
and courts, wealtit !ind fame, appeared to his•tmdo!1ded '
vi�ion. From that, day 'forw�rd he gave himself up