In the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna was still seated in Balaram's drawing-room. On His face was a sweet smile, the reflection of which was caught by the faces of the disciples. Girish Ghosh, [**] Suresh Mittra, [*+] Balaram, Latoo, [*++] Chunilall [* section] and many other disciples were present.

Ramakrishna (to Girish): You would better argue the point with Narendra (Vivekananda) and see what he has to say.

Girish: Narendra says: "God is Infinite.

[paragraph continues] We cannot even say that all that we hear or see--be it an object or a person--is a part of God. Infinity is one; how can it have parts? It cannot be divided."

[Divine Incarnation.] Ramakrishna: God may be Infinite or even greater than Infinite; but by His omnipotent will He can manifest His essence through human form and incarnate Himself among us. Indeed He does incarnate Himself as a human being. How He incarnates we cannot explain by words. One must feel it and realize it. By analogy we can get only a faint idea of it. For instance, if you have touched the horn, leg or udder of a cow, have you not touched the whole cow? But for us human beings the milk is the most important thing and that you can get only from the udder, not from any other part of the body. The Incarnation of God is like the udder, through which flows the milk of Divine Love. In order to give mankind His essence of Divine Love and Bhakti the Lord incarnates from time to time in a human form.

Girish: Narendra says: "Is it possible to fully comprehend God? He is Infinite."

Ramakrishna: That is true. Who can fully comprehend God or even any of His attributes,

great or small? Why is it necessary for us to know all His attributes? It is enough if we can see Him and realize Him. Moreover, he who has seen His Divine Incarnation has seen God. Suppose a man goes to the banks of the holy river Ganges and touches the water. He will say: "I have seen and touched the holy river." It will not be necessary for him to touch the whole river from its source to its mouth. If I touch your feet, then I have touched you. If you go to the ocean and touch the water, you have touched the whole ocean. As fire is all-pervading but is more manifest in burning wood, so God, although He is all-pervading, is more manifest in His Incarnation.

Girish (smiling). I, for my part, am searching after fire. I am eagerly looking for the place where I shall find it.

[Seek God in Man.] Ramakrishna (smiling): The element fire is more manifest in the wood. If you seek the Divine element, you must seek it in man, for Divinity is more manifest in a human being than elsewhere. Again, if you see a man who is overflowing with Divine Love, who is mad after God, who is intoxicated by the wine of Divine Love, in that man you must know, I assure you, that the Lord has