[Parable of a wood-cutter.] There was a wood-cutter who led a very miserable life with the small means he could procure by daily selling a load of wood brought from a neighboring forest. Once a Sannyasin, who was passing that way, saw him at work and advised him to go further into the forest, saying: "Move onward, my child, move onward." The woodcutter obeyed the injunction and proceeded onward until he came to a sandalwood-tree, and being much pleased, he took away with him as many sandal logs as he could carry, sold them in the market and derived much profit. Then he began to wonder within himself why the good Sannyasin had not told him anything about the wood of the sandal-tree, but had simply advised him to move onward. So the next day he went on beyond the place of the sandalwood until he came upon a copper-mine, and he took with him all the copper that he could carry, and selling it in the market, got more money by it. Next day, without stopping at the copper-mine, he proceeded further still, as the Sadhu had advised him to do, and he

came upon a silver-mine and took with him as much of it as he could carry, sold it and got even more money, and so daily proceeding further and further, he found gold-mines and diamond-mines and at last became exceedingly rich. Such is also the case with the man who aspires after true Knowledge. If he does not stop in his progress after attaining a few extraordinary and supernatural powers, he at last becomes really rich in the eternal knowledge of Truth.

So go on, my children, and never lose sight of your ideal! Go onward and never stop until you have reached the goal. Arriving at a particular stage, do not get the idea that you have reached your journey's end. Work is only the first stage of the journey. Bear in mind that doing works unattached is exceedingly difficult, that therefore Bhakti Yoga, the path of love, is better suited to this age, and that work, even if unattached, is not the end of your life, but only a means to an end. So march on and never halt till you have come up to the great Ideal of your life--the realization of God.

Referring to lectures given by members of religious bodies like the Brahmo Samaj and

[Lectures and sermons of preachers.] [paragraph continues] Harisabha, [**] the Bhagavan said: One can form an estimate of a man from the lectures he delivers. A pandit was lecturing as the preceptor (Acharya) of a certain Harisabha. In the course of his sermon he said: "The Lord has not Rasa (sweetness). Let us make Him sweet by giving Him our love and devotion." By sweetness he meant love and tenderness.