It was evening. After the usual prayers and other religious exercises enjoined on the pious Hindu were over, there was yet another meeting between the Master and the same disciple. The disciple then asked, referring to the apparently contradictory systems of religious faith among the. Hindus: Bhagavan, is this a contradiction: some among the Hindus hold that Sri Krishna is identical with Kali, the Divine Mother, while others hold that Sri Krishna is the Atman, the Absolute, and that Radha is Chitsakti, the self-conscious Power that rules the universe, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, the Personal God?

[God is Infinite.] Bhagavan: The former view is that of the Devi Puran. Be it so, but there need be no contradiction. God is Infinite. Infinite are the Forms in which He manifests Himself. Infinite also are the ways leading to Him.

Disciple: Oh, I see! The end in view is to get on the roof of the house. The means may be various, as Thou hast often said,--a single rope, a bamboo, a wooden ladder, or a staircase?

Bhagavan: Quite so. That you can understand

[Grace of God.] this so quickly is due to the Grace of God. Without His Grace doubt is never cleared up. Our attitude towards God should be like that of Hanuman who said to Rama Chandra: "Lord, I care not for a special time or place for meditation. What alone I am concerned with is to meditate upon Thee."

[Love of God the one thing needful.] Suppose you go into a garden to eat mangoes. Is it necessary for you first to count the number trees in the garden, which may be many thousands, then the number of branches, which may be hundreds of thousands? Certainly not; you should at once, on the contrary, proceed to eat. In the same way, it is useless to enter into all sorts of discussions and controversies regarding God, which would only cause a waste of time and energy. One's present and most important duty is to love God, to cultivate Bhakti or devotion.

Disciple:. Bhagavan, I greatly desire that my work in the world should become a little less than now. The pressure of work stands in the way of one's giving one's whole mind to God, does it not?

Bhagavan: Oh yes, no doubt that is so; but

a wise man may work unattached and then work will not do any harm to him.

Disciple: But that depends upon the possession of an extraordinary power of will derived from the realization of God. First realization of God, then work without attachment. Is it not so, Bhagavan?