(a kind of aquatic plant). A tug at one end will 'bring the whole lot up!"
But what do all these things matter? The Master used to say, "You have come to eat the- mangoes. What is the use of counting the leaves and branches?"
Disciple: Mother, I feel it is purposeless to live unless we have a direct vision of God. Once I asked a Mussalman Fakir, "A man sits with an angling rod on the bank of a lake or a river in the expectation of catching fish. He never does so near a mud-puddle. Have you got a glimpse of that for which you have become a religious mendicant?"
Mother: What did he say?
Disciple: What could he say?
Mother (after a little reflection): You have said the right thing. That is true. What does it avail a plan unless he gets some kind of realization? But one should continue to have faith in things spiritual.
Disciple: The other day Sarat Maharaj said as Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda) also had remarked earlier, "Suppose there is a lump of gold in the adjoining room and a thief sees it from this room. There is an intervening wall which prevents him from taking possession of this precious metal. Under that condition, can the man ever sleep? All the time he would be thinking of how he might get at that lump of gold! In the same way, if a man is firmly convinced that there is such an entity as God, can he ever indulge in worldly life?"
Mother: That is true, indeed.
Disciple: Whatever you may say, Mother, renunciation and dispassion and the chief things. Shall we ever acquire them?
Mother: Certainly, you will gain everything if you but take refuge in the Master. Renunciation alone was his splendour. We utter his name and eat and enjoy things because he renounced all. People think that his devotees also must be very great, as he was a man of such complete renunciation.
Ah me! One day he went to my room in the Nahabat. He had no spices in his small bag. He used to chew them now and then. I gave him some to chew there, and also handed over to him a few packed in paper to take to his room. He proceeded; but instead of going to his room, he went straight to the embankment of the