Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/224

 difference? You are a tiger like me; grass is not your food; your food is animal flesh." But the grass-eating tiger could not believe it. After a long time the real tiger convinced him that he was of the same species. Then he gave him a piece of flesh to eat, but he would not touch it; he began once more to bleat and to seek for grass. At last, however, the real tiger forced him to eat animal flesh; at once he liked the taste of the blood, gave up his grass-eating and bleating, and realized that he was not a sheep but a tiger. He then followed the real tiger and became like him. The human soul is the child of God, but it does not know it, and therefore it lives like an ordinary mortal (sheep); but when, by the grace of the Guru, he realizes his true nature, he becomes free from all fear and attains to perfection. There-fore I say, when the grace of the Guru comes, all fear vanishes. He will make you know who you are and what you are in reality. You will have to do very little for yourself after you have received that grace. You will then be able to distinguish between the Real and the unreal and to realize that God is Truth and the world is unreal.