GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
Supreme Being. I searched for the places where Longing to hear about the Supreme. the Holy Scriptures were expounded. There was a Brahmin in the neigh- borhood who was a great pandit and who had true faith. I used to go to hear him very often. A saint lived near by on the bank of the Ganges and I wished to go with this Brahmin to see him; but a priest who looked upon the world as a dream discouraged me by saying: "The body of a saint is an earthly cage; what good can one obtain by visiting such a cage?" I spoke of this to the Brahmin and he replied: "He who thinks of God, he who re- peats His Holy Name and has renounced every- thing for the sake of the Lord, must not be re- garded as an earthly cage. The priest does not know that the form of a devotee is a spiritual form full of Divine intelligence." This Brah- min once asked me why I had thrown away my Brahminical thread. I replied: "When the storm of Divine ecstasy overtook my heart and soul, it blew away all signs of caste and creed. If you once become mad after God, then you will understand me." But after some time this Brahmin himself caught the madness of Divine ecstasy. He would utter nothing but "Om, Om," and sit in silence in his own room. He
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