[Effect of lectures on worldly men.] Give thousands of lectures, you cannot do anything with worldly men. Can you drive a nail into a stone wall? The head will be broken without making any impression on the wall. Strike the back of an alligator with a sword, it will receive no impression. The mendicant's bowl (of gourd-shell) may have been to the four great holy places of India but still be as bitter as ever. But you will learn this gradually. A calf cannot stand on its legs all at once. It falls down, gets up, falls again, and then it learns to stand and run. You do not know who is a Bhakta (godly) and who is worldly; but that is not your fault. When a heavy storm blows, one cannot distinguish Tamarind from Mango-tree.

It is true, however, that no one can absolutely renounce all works without realizing God. The question is, how long should Sandhya (rituals) and other ceremonial works be practised? So long as the Holy Name of the Lord does not bring tears of love to the eyes and produce horripilation in the body. When you are uttering "Om Rama," if tears of love come to your eyes, you will know for certain that the term of your Karma (works and duties) is over. You are no longer obliged to perform Sandhya and

other works. You have risen above Karma. When the fruit appears, the blossom drops off. The true Bhakti is the fruit, while work is the blossom.

When the daughter-in-law of the house is with child, she cannot do much work; so the mother-in-law daily reduces the number of her duties. As the time of her delivery draws near, the mother-in-law seldom allows her to do anything; and when the child is born, she fondles and caresses it and ceases altogether to work.

[All rituals end in Samadhi.] Sandhya merges into Gayatri; Gayatri into Om, and Om ultimately loses itself in Samadhi. As the sound of a bell--Ding, dong--gradually fades away into the Infinite, so the soul of a Yogi gradually rises with the Nada (the sound of Om) and becomes merged in the Absolute Brahman in Samadhi. Into this Samadhi eventually enter all Karma,--Sandhya, Gayatri and other works. In this manner the Jnanis are freed from all rituals and religious exercises.

ii

As the Bhagavan was talking of Samadhi, a strange heavenly expression came over His sweet, radiant face. He lost all outward consciousness.

[paragraph continues] After remaining speechless in this state for some time, He came down and like a child said, "Give me a little water." This call for water was the usual sign of His return to the plane of sense-consciousness. Then He murmured: "O Mother! The other day Thou didst show me Vidyasagara. Then I desired to see a Pandit and Thou hast brought me here."