THE farther you advance, the more you will see that there are other things even beyond the sandalwood forest — mines of silver, gold and precious gems1. Therefore go forward.
But how can I ask people to go forward? If worldly people go too far, then the bottom will drop out of their world. One day Keshab was conducting a religious service. He said, “O God, may we all sink and disappear in the river of bhakti!” When the worship was over I said to him: “Look here. How can you disappear altogether in the river of bhakti? If you do, what will happen to those seated behind the screen?2 But do one thing: sink now and then, and come back again to dry land.” (183)
- Reference is to the parable ‘Go Forward!’. ↩︎
- The master referred to the ladies. ↩︎