Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/311

 of the saint lingers for twenty-one days, after which he passes away. During these days he ceases to take any food. Milk, if poured into his mouth, runs out and never gets into the stomach. The Bhagavan continued: Some sages, who have reached the seventh or highest plane and have thus attained to God-conscious- ness, are pleased to come down from that spiritual height for the good of mankind. They keep the ego of Vidya, or, in other words, the Higher Self. But this ego is a mere appearance. It is like a line drawn across a sheet of water. Hanuman was blessed with the vision of God both with form and without form; but he retained the ego of a servant of God. Such was also the case with the wise men Narada, Sanaka, Sananda, and Sanat Kumara of ancient times. Here the question was asked whether Narada and others were Bhaktas only and not Jnanis. The Bhagavan replied: Narada and others had attained the highest knowledge (Brahma- Jnana), but still they went on like the murmur-