Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/132

 cause of the water in the cake. The noise will continue until the cake is properly fried. The unfried cake maybe compared to the disciple, and the boiling butter to the Guru, the spiritual teacher. The sound of teaching is heard so long as the disciple is not perfectly enlightened.

Srî Râmakrishna continued: So long as the individual soul has the slightest attachment to the world of senses and desires it cannot attain to Brahma-Jnâna. He is a Jnâni who relinquishes all worldly desires and sense-pleasures by saying, "not this, not this," and then realizes the Supreme Brahman in Samâdhi.

A Jnâni knows that all phenomena of the universe which are subject to evolution, whether physical or mental, are within the realm of Mâyâ; they are unreal and transitory like the objects of vision in a dream. Therefore as one climbs the stairway step by step until the roof is reached, so he rises above them step by step, saying "not this," until he reaches the Absolute Brahman, which is the roof of the phenomenal universe.

A Jnâni goes so far as to realize that Brahman is the Absolute Reality and all phenomena unreal. A Vijnâni, however, goes farther and