Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/181

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GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

devotion (Bhakti) alone. With flowers in my Prayer to the Divine Mother. clasped hands, I prayed: "Do Thou, O Mother, grant that I may have pure and unalloyed devotion. Here is sin, here again is virtue; I lay them at Thy feet; Oh take them both. Here is knowledge (of many things), here again is ignorance; Oh take them both and grant that I may have devotion alone. Here is purity and here again is impurity; I desire neither of them. Here are good works, here are bad; both I lay at Thy feet; Oh grant that I may have devotion alone and love for Thee."

One living in the world may also see God. It was the case with Raja Janaka, the great royal Example of Janaka. devotee, who realized while on the throne that the world was a structure of dreams. For a lover of God, however, such is not the feeling. And the Bhagavan sang: He who has attained to Bhakti or true devotion to the Lord says:

"This world is the abode of happiness; I eat, drink and enjoy its pleasures. Janaka Raja was a great potentate; In what was he lacking? He harmonized God and the world

And tasted the jovs of both."

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