GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
pot which when lighted burns a little and then goes off all at once. Similarly ordinary Jivas, after long practice and devotional exercises, go up at once in Samadhi and do not return. There Souls eter-nally free.
is another class who may be called eternally free. From their birth they seek after God and do not care for anything of the world. We are told of a fabled species of birds called "Homa," which live so high up in the heavens, and so dearly love those regions, that they never condescend to come down to the earth. Even their eggs, which when laid in the sky begin to fall to the earth by the force of gravity, are said to be hatched during their downward course, and the fledglings, finding that they are falling down, at once change their course and begin to fly upward towards their home, drawn thither by instinct. Men such as Sukadeva, Narada, Jesus, Sankaracharya and others are like those birds, who even in their boyhood give up all attachment to the things of this world and betake themselves to the high- est regions of true Knowledge and Divine Light. Those who come with the Avataras are either souls who are eternally free -or who are born for the last time.
The holy men (Paramahamsas) may be di-
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