GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
of them said: "God is all-merciful." I asked: "Indeed, is it so? How did you come to know it?" "Why, Sir, is not the Lord feeding and taking care of us?" I said: "Is that so extraor- dinary? God is the Father of us all. If the father does not look after his own children, who will? Shall outsiders from another neighbor- hood come and take care of them?" Narendra: Then we should not call Him merciful ? Bhagavan: Am I forbidding you to call Him all-merciful? What I mean is that the Lord is our nearest and dearest and not like a stranger. Pandit: Priceless are these words! The Bhagavan here asked for a fresh glass of water. He would not take the one already offered and it was therefore carried away. It appeared that he looked upon it as unfit to be offered to the God in Him, being made impure by the "feverish" touch of some wicked men. Pandit (to Hazra): You who live with the Bhagavan day and night must enjoy the high- est bliss. Bhagavan (smiling): This day I have had the rare pleasure of looking at the moon of the second lunar day. Do you know why I say the moon
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