ONCE I said to Narendra1, “Look here, my boy. God is the ocean of Bliss. Don’t you want to plunge into this ocean? Suppose there is a cup of syrup and you are a fly. Where will you sit to sip the syrup?” Narendra said, “I will sit on the edge of the cup and stick my head out to drink it.” “Why,” said I, “why should you sit on the edge” He replied, “If I go far into the syrup, I shall be drowned and lose my life.” Then I said to him: “But my child, there is no such fear in the Ocean of Satchidananda. It is the Ocean of Immortality.
By plunging into It a man does not die; he’ becomes immortal. Man does not lose his consciousness by being mad about God.” (173)
- Afterwards world famous as Swami Vivekananda. ↩︎