Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/94

 is his father, who is his mother and who is his wife? He behaves like a madman who is free from all bondage and who has no duty to perform. Do you know what that madness of Divine Love is? In that state one forgets the world and becomes unconscious of one's own body which is so dear to one. Chaitanya Deva possessed this madness of ecstasy. He had neither hunger, nor thirst, nor sleep, nor consciousness of his physical form. The meaning of the word Chaitanya is "indivisible and absolute intelligence." Vaishnava Charan used to say that Chaitanya Deva, the Incarnation of Divine Love, was like a bubble on the ocean of that Absolute Intelligence. Divine Love is the rarest thing in the world. He who can love God as a devoted wife loves her husband, attains to Divine Love. pure love is difficult to acquire. In pure love the whole heart and soul must be absorbed in God. Then will come ecstasy. In ecstasy a man remains dumb with wonder. Outward breathing stops entirely, but inward breathing continues; as when aiming a gun, a man remains speechless and without breathing. In Divine Love one entirely forgets the external world with all its charms and attrac-