Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/208

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CONVERSATION WITH A BRAHMIN.

"This is water, likewise."

“What is the difference between this water and the Ganges?”

“ There is none,” replied the missionary.

“Oh! I see a great difference; that water carries ships, this does not; God is almighty; I am only a part of the Godhead, and therefore I am not almighty; and yet I am God, just as these drops in the cup are real water."

“According to your teaching," said the missionary, “God is divided into many thousand portions; one is in me, another in you."

"Oh!” said the Brahmin, “this remark is owing to your ignorance. How many suns do you see in the sky?"

"Only one."

“But if you fill a thousand vessels, what do you see in each?"

“The image of the sun."

“But if you see the image of the sun in so many thousand vessels, does it prove that there are a thousand suns in the firmament! No; there is only one sun in the heavens, and it is reflected a thousand times in the water. So likewise there is but one God, and his image and brightness are reflected in every human being."