Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/93

 reach the Divine Mother. Absolute self-resignation to the will of the Divine Mother is the surest way to God-vision. As the kitten resigns itself to the will of its mother, so a devotee shall resign himself to the will of the Divine Mother. The kitten knows nothing more than to cry "Mew, mew," and the mother-cat may keep her young one on the bare floor of the kitchen or on the downy bed of the householder. The kitten is always contented. Similarly the true devotee should always cry unto the Divine Mother and be contented with whatever She wishes to do with him. God-consciousness does not come so long as there are three things in the heart, — shame, hatred and fear. These three and caste pride are the fetters of the soul. When these fetters are broken, freedom is attained. Bound by fetters is Jiva (the ego), free from fetters is Shiva (God). Every man has certain debts to pay, — a debt to the Divine Spirit, a debt to the sages, debt to mother, to father, to the wife. No man can renounce everything without paying off these debts. But if his soul be intoxicated with Divine Love and become mad after God, then he is free from all duties and debts. Then who