Page:Ramakrishna - His Life and Sayings.djvu/198

180 self and the Lord of all. What is my ego ? Is it my hand, or foot, or flesh, or blood, or muscle, or tendon ? Ponder deep, and thou shalt know that there is no such thing as I. As by continually peeling off the skin of the onion, so by analysing the ego it will be found that there is not any real entity corresponding to the ego. The ultimate result of all such analysis is God. When egoism drops away, Divinity manifests itself.

854. The truly devotional and spiritual practice suited for this Iron-age (Kali-yuga) is the constant repetition of the name of the Lord of Love.

355. If thou wishest to see God, have firm faith in the efficacy of repeating the name of Hari, and try to discriminate the real from the unreal.

856. When an elephant is let loose, it goes about uproot- ing trees and shrubs, but as soon as the driver pricks him on the head with the goad he becomes quiet ; so the mind when unrestrained wantons in the luxuriance of idle thoughts, but becomes calm at once when struck with the goad of discrimination*

857. Devotional practices are necessary only so long as tears of ecstasy do not flow at hearing the name of Hari. He needs no devotional practices whose heart is moved" to tears at the mere mention of the name of Hari.

858. The companionship of the holy and wise is one of the main elements of spiritual progress.

859. The soul reincarnates in a body of which it was