Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/176

 Sri Ramakrishna continuing: My Divine Mother is playful. The world indeed is Her

sport. She does what She will and is blissful. It is Her pleasure to give freedom to one among a hundred thousand of Her children. A Brahmo: Sir, She can, if She pleases, set every body free. Why is it then that She has bound us hand and foot with the chains of the world ? Sri Ramakrishna: Well, I suppose it is Her will. Her will is to play with all these things. In the game of Hide-and-Seek, whoever touches the Grand-dame is out. He no longer runs about. If all the players touch the Grand- dame at the same time, how can there be any game? The Grand-dame would not like it; for she is pleased to have the play go on. And the Bhagavan, placing Himself in the position of a man of the world laying the trouble of his heart before the Mother, sang:

The Divine Mother and Her Children

I. This is the grief for which I grieve. When Thou, O Mother, art here, thieves (passions) rob me though I am wide awake.