Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/64

 that bite. Or you may get so angry at them that you will wish to take revenge. It is necessary, however, to keep occasionally the company of holy men. Through such association right discrimination will come.

There are four classes of Jivas, or individual souls: First, Baddha, the bound; second, Mumukshu, the seeker after freedom; third, Mukta, the emancipated; and fourth, Nitya-mukta, the eternally free. This world is like a net, the soul fish, and the Lord of the phenomenal world is the fisherman. When a fisherman draws in his net, some of the fish try to escape by rending the net, that is, they struggle for freedom. So are the souls of the second class, the Mumukshus, the seekers after freedom. But among the fish that struggle, only a few escape. Similarly, a few souls only attain to freedom and they belong to the third class, the Muktas. There are some fish, however, that are naturally cautious and never fall into the net. Such are the souls of the fourth class, the Nitya-muktas, who are never caught in the net of the phenomenal world, but who remain eternally free, like Nârada and others like him. Most of the fish,