GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
thinking and meditating on Him. Some people have to perform work without attachment for a long time before true dispassion for the world comes; then the mind runs towards God and becomes absorbed in Him. Whatever work Vidyasagara has done for others has been very Compassion and attach-ment. good and helpful. To be kind and compassionate is also good; but there is a difference between compassion and attachment. Compassion is good, but attachment is not. Attachment is love for wife, children, brother, sister, father, mother and other relatives, while true compassion is equal love for all living creatures. Mahendra: Is compassion also a bondage? Ramakrishna: This question is not for ordi- nary mortals. Compassion is the result of the Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. Sattwa quality. The Sattwa quality is protective, the Rajas quality is creative, and Tamas is destructive: but Brahman the Absolute is beyond these three qualities, Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, It is also beyond Prakriti or nature. Where there is abso-lute Reality, no quality of nature can reach. As a thief cannot go to the exact spot where the treasure is, because he is afraid of being caught, so Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, like
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