GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
Disciple: Yes, Bhagavan, it is so difficult to understand one's self. We see the self only as it appears to us. Behind it there may be a hundred previous incarnations. We walk upon the floor of a house but we never stop to see how it is made and what various things are beneath it.
The Bhagavan smiled at the disciple and left His seat. He went out into the veranda next to the western door of His room and for a time looked on the sun which was sinking rapidly towards the horizon. Then He gazed down upon the holy waters of the sacred stream be- fore Him. A disciple was walking alone in front of the Temple on the embankment of the Ganges. He was watching Balaram and others getting into a boat to return to Calcutta. It being midsummer, the sacred waters of the river were broken into waves. The day was drawing to its close, it was past five, the sky was cloudy and the clouds presented a most wonderful sight, especially towards the north. In the foreground were the Panchavati, backed by a line of tall willow trees," with the silver stream flowing past on their right. In the back- ground were the beautiful dark blue clouds and the dark stream beneath.
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