[paragraph continues] Then, by the will of Rama, I was kept in prison, and this morning the will of Rama has brought me before thee." The judge, seeing the innocence and spirituality of the man, ordered him to be released. Coming out, the weaver said to his friends, "The will of Rama has released me." [Everything depends on God's will.] Whether you live in the world or renounce it, everything depends upon the will of Rama. Throwing your whole responsibility upon God, do your work in the world. If you cannot do this, what else can you do?

If a clerk be imprisoned, when the term of his sentence is over and he comes out, tell me, will he pass his time in dancing for joy over his release or resume his work as clerk? So when the householder is liberated from the prison of the world, will he spend his life in rejoicing over his liberation? He may continue to perform his duties as householder, if he so desires. He who has attained wisdom makes no distinction between this place and that place; to him all positions are equal. He who has found God here has also found Him there. When the tail of a tadpole drops off, it can live both in water and on land. When the tail of ignorance drops off, man becomes free. He

can then live both in God and in the world equally well.

[The world like a dream.] Those who follow monistic (Advaita) Vedanta, however, look upon this world as unreal, like a dream. According to them Paramatman, or the Over-Soul, is the witness of the three states of consciousness,--waking, dream and dreamless sleep. All these are ideas. The dream state is just as real as the waking state. Let me tell you a story.

[Parable of the farmer and his only child.] There was a farmer who was a monist; he had attained to some realization. He lived like any other farmer with his family, and he had a child. He and his wife had extreme love for this son because he was their only child. The farmer himself was a very spiritual man. He was respected and loved by everyone in the village. Once he was working in the field, when suddenly a man brought the news of his son's severe illness. He went home, called physicians, took great care, but could not save the child's life. Everybody in the household was overwhelmed with grief, but the farmer looked as if nothing had happened. He consoled others by saying, "What can be gained by mourning over the child?" The next day he went to the field as