Page:Ramakrishna - His Life and Sayings.djvu/152

134 151. Take the pearl and throw the oyster-shell away. Follow the mantra (advice) given thee by thy Guru and throw out of consideration the human frailties of thy teacher.

162. Listen not, if any one criticises and censures thy Guru. Leave his presence at once.

153* As the moon is the unde of every child, so God is the Father and Guide of the whole Humanity. (The children in Bengal call the moon their 'maternal unde.')

154. A disciple, having firm faith in the infinite power of his Guru, walked over a river even by pronouncing his name. The Guru, seeing this, thought within himself, 'Well, is there such a power even in my name? Then I must be very great and powerful, no doubt T The next day he also tried to walk over the river pronouncing ' I, I, I/ but no sooner had he stepped into the waters than he sank and was drowned. Faith can achieve miracles, while vanity or egoism is the death of man.

155. Gurus can be had by hundreds, but good Chelas (disciples) are very rare.

156. It is easy to utter 'do, re^ mi, fa, sol, la, si,' by mouth, but not so easy to sing or play them on any instru- ment So it is easy to talk religion, but it is difficult to act religion.

157. Common men talk bagfuls of religion, but act not a grain of it, while the wise man speaks little, but his whole life is a religion acted out.