Knowledge and love of God are ultimately one and the same. There is no difference between pure knowledge and pure love. A true devotee who has drunk deeply of Divine Love is like a veritable drunkard, and, as such, cannot always observe the rules of propriety. As the lamp does not burn without oil, so man cannot live without God. God is even in the tiger, but we must not go and face the animal! So it is true that God dwells even in the most wicked of men, but it is not meant that we should associate with the wicked. The human body is like a boiling pot, and the mind and the senses are like the food cooking within it. The heat does not belong to the pot but to the fire. So it is the fire of Brahman in man that causes the mind and the senses to perform their functions, and when that fire ceases to act, the senses also, or the organs, stop. Similarly, we are like a fountain. When the power to the water pump is cut-off, the fountain ceases. A man who voluntarily goes into a river and bathes therein gets the benefit of the bath; so does likewise he who has been pushed into the river by another, or who while sleeping soundly has water thrown upon him by another. The locomotive engine reaches the destination itself, and also draws and takes with it a long train of loaded wagons. So likewise act the Saviours. They carry multitudes of men, heavily laden with the cares and sorrows of the world, to the feet of the Almighty. A Siddhu accidentally trod on the toe of a wicked person, who beat him to unconsciousness. His disciples brought him back to consciousness and one of them asked "Sir, do you recognize who is attending upon you?" The Sadhu replied "He who beat me". A true Sadhu finds no distinction between a friend and a foe. When water is poured into an empty vessel a bubbling noise ensues, but when the vessel is full no such noise is heard. Similarly, the man who has not found God is full of vain disputations. But when he has seen Him, all vanities disappear. He is like a deep pool, clear and full. A logician once asked Sri Ramakrishna "What are knowledge, knower, and the object known?" To which he replied, "Good man, I do not know all these niceties of scholastic learning. I know only my Mother Divine, and that I am Her son". The true Sadhus seem to roam about like children or mad men, in dirty clothes. The sage alone can recognize a sage. Just as a specialist in a field of work knows his subject. Two men went into a garden. The worldly-wise man no sooner entered the gate than he began to count the number of the mango-trees, how many mangoes each tree bore, and what might be the approximate price of the whole orchard. the other went to the owner, made his acquaintance, and quietly going under a mangoe tree began to pluck the fruit and eat it with the owners consent. Now who is the wiser of the two? Eat mangoes, it will satisfy your hunger. What is the good of counting the leaves and making vain calculations? The vain man of intellect is uselessly busy in finding out the "why and wherefore" of creation while the humble man of wisdom makes acquaintance with the creator and enjoys the supreme bliss of this world. "I must attain perfection in this life, yea, in three days I must find God, nay, with a single utterance of his name I will draw him to me". With such a violent love the Lord is attracted soon. The lukewarm lovers take ages to go to Him, if at all. The darkness of centuries is dispersed at once as soon as light is brought into the room. The accumulated ignorances and misdoings of innumerable births vanish before the single glance of the Almightys' gracious look. God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is the reason why they suffer. The waters of a swiftly-flowing current move round and round in eddies, but quickly crossing these they resume their former course. So the hearts of the pious fall sometimes into the whirlpools of despondency, grief and unbelief, but it is only a momentary aberration. It does not last long. It is pleasant to scratch pimples and skin irritations, but the consequences are bad. So the pleasures of the world are very pleasant in the beginning, but their after consequences are very terrible to contemplate. There is little chance a bushman will get lost if he knows which direction is North. So, if the mind of man is turned always towards God without oscillation, direction will never be lost and one can steer clear of every danger. If you can detect and find out the universal illusion or maya, it will fly away from you, just as a thief runs away when found out. If you wish to thread the needle, make the thread pointed, and remove all extraneous fibres. Then the thread will pass easily into the eye of the needle. So if thou wishest to concentrate thy heart on God, be meek, humble, poor of spirit, and remove all filaments of desire. A frayed and agitated mind has no strength. It needs to be focused to a point to be able to penetrate through the veil of maya. The tender bamboo can be easily bent, but the full-grown bamboo breaks when an attempt is made to bend it. It is easy to bend young hearts towards good, but the hearts of the old escape the hold when so drawn. The spiritual scriptures are a great treasure, but the foolish mis-use them, and so destroy them altogether, spoiling all the hard work that was done to create them. The man who, living in the midst of the temptations of the world, attains perfection, is the true hero. When the tail of the tadpole drops off, it can live both in water and on land. When the tail of ignorance drops off, man becomes free. He can then live both in God and in the world equally well. One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing, another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. A sluggard does not plow in season, so at harvest time, he looks but finds nothing. Better is open rebuke than hidden love. He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favour than he who has a flattering tongue.