[Fickleness of the mind.] Bhagavan: It is natural with the mind of one who lives in the world. Sometimes it is on a high plane and sometimes on a low. Sometimes there is a great upheaval of devotional feeling, then again it subsides, because the attraction of lust and wealth is very strong. A devotee who lives in the world may meditate on God and repeat His holy Name, but again his mind is attracted by the power of lust and wealth, just as a fly sometimes lights on the most delicious sweetmeat and sometimes relishes the taste of filth or of a rotten carcass.

[A true Sannyasin.] It is different, however, with those who have renounced the world. They have detached their mind entirely from lust and wealth and have fixed it upon the Supreme. They constantly drink the nectar of Divine Love. The mind of a true Sannyasin does not care for anything other than the Supreme. He leaves the place where worldly talk prevails. He listens to discourses about

the highest Spiritual Truth alone. A true Sannyasin does not speak of worldly matters, he utters no word which has not bearing upon the Spiritual Ideal. A bee sits on flowers only to drink honey. He does not care for any other object. Then, referring to Rakhal (Swami Brahmananda), who had a wife and a child before he renounced the world, Ramakrishna said: Rakhal and others like him have now understood which is good and which is evil, which is real and which is unreal. They have realized that earthly relations are transitory and ephemeral. They will never again be attached to the world. They are like eels which live in the mud but remain untouched by it.

Girish: I do not understand all that. Thou hast the power to make everyone unattached to the world and free from bondage. Thou hast the power to make everyone perfect whether a Sannyasin or a householder. When the Malaya breeze blows it can transform all trees into sandalwood trees.

[The worthy will become perfect.] Bhagavan: But pithless trees like the banana- and the cotton-tree are not transformed into sandalwood. Similarly those who are worthy will become perfect. Worldliness means attachment to

lust and wealth. Many worldly people consider wealth as their heart's blood. But if you take too much care of wealth, perhaps one day it will go entirely out of your possession. In our country farmers build earthen embankments round their fields. Those who do not leave open any passage for water and take too much care of their embankments, invariably have theirs washed off first by the tremendous current of the water; but those who keep one side open, find that their fields become enriched with alluvial deposits and more fertile in the end. They make the best use of their riches who spend them in the service of the Lord and of holy sages. They reap good fruits of their wealth who give freely to the poor and needy and for the good of humanity.