your son's life." The physician forgets that the will of the Lord is at the root of every event of life and death. The Lord then smiles, thinking: "How foolish this man must be who boasts of saving the life of his patient when the latter is dying under My will." The Lord smiles again when two brothers are engaged in partitioning their estate. They take a measuring-tape and, putting it out across the land, say: "This portion is mine, and that is yours." The Lord smiles, thinking: "The whole Universe belongs to Me, but these foolish brothers say: 'This portion is mine and that is yours.'"

"O Lord, Thou makest everything and Thou art my nearest and dearest One. This house, this family, these relatives, these friends of mine, nay, this whole universe belongs to Thee, O Lord." Such is the nature of true Jnana (knowledge). But "I do everything, I am the doer. My house, my family, my children, my friends, everything belongs to me"; all this proceeds from Ajnana (ignorance).

[The Lord alone is thine own.] A Guru was giving this instruction to his disciple: "The Lord alone is thine own and no one else belongs to thee." The disciple replied: "But my mother and my wife, who take such good care of me, who love

me and feel extremely unhappy when they do not see me, are also my own, are they not?" The Guru answered: "In this you are mistaken. I will show you that none of them truly cares for you. Never believe for a moment that your mother or wife will sacrifice her life for your sake. You can try and see. Go home and feign excruciating pain and I will come and show you." The disciple acted accordingly. Doctors were called in, but no one could afford relief. The mother of the patient was sorrowing and sighing. The wife and children were weeping. At this moment the Sannyasin (Guru) appeared. "The disease is of a serious nature," he said, "and I do not see any chance of the patient's recovery unless some one come forward to give his or her life for the patient." At this all of them looked aghast. The Sannyasin, addressing the old mother of the sick man, said: "To live or to die will be the same thing to you, if in your old age you lose your son who earns for himself and for you all. If you can give your life in exchange for his, I can save your son. If you, as mother, cannot make this sacrifice for him, who else in the world will care to do it?" The old woman stammered through her tears: "Revered father, I am ready to do

anything you order for the sake of my son. But the thing is, my own life--and what is my life in comparison to that of my son? The thought--what will become of my little ones after my death, makes me a coward. Unfortunate that I am, these little ones are in my way!"