Page:Ramakrishna - His Life and Sayings.djvu/118

100 has seen the elephant The elephant is not like a pillar, its legs are like pillars. It is not like a big water-vessel, its belly is like a water-vessel It is not like a winnowing basket, its ears are like winnowing baskets. It is not like a thick stick or club, but its proboscis is like that. The elephant is the combination of all these.' In the same manner those quarrel who have seen one aspect only of the Deity.

6. As the same sugar is made into various figures of birds and beasts, so one sweet Mother Divine is worshipped in various dimes and ages under various names and forms. Different creeds are but different paths to reach the Almighty.

7. As with one gold various ornaments are made, having different forms and names, so one God is worshipped in different countries and ages, and has different forms and names. Though He may be worshipped variously, some loving to call him Father, others Mother, &c, yet it is one God that is being worshipped in all these various relations and modes.

8* Q. If the God of every religion is the same, why is it then that the God is painted differently by different religionists ? A. God is one, but His aspects are different : as one master of the house is father to one, brother to another, and husband to a third, and is called by these different names by those different persons, so one God is described and called in various ways according to the