GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA
me and feel extremely unhappy when they do not see me, are also my own, are they not?" The Guru answered: "In this you are mistaken. I will show you that none of them truly cares for you. Never believe for a moment that your mother or wife will sacrifice her life for your sake. You can try and see. Go home and feign excruciating pain and I will come and show you." The disciple acted accordingly. Doctors were called in, but no one could afford relief. The mother of the patient was sorrowing and sighing. The wife and children were weeping. At this moment the Sannyâsin (Guru) appeared. "The disease is of a serious nature," he said, "and I do not see any chance of the patient's recovery unless some one come forward to give his or her life for the patient." At this all of them looked aghast. The Sannyâsin, addressing the old mother of the sick man, said: "To live or to die will be the same thing to you, if in your old age you lose your son who earns for himself and for you all. If you can give your life in exchange for his, I can save your son. If you, as mother, cannot make this sacrifice for him, who else in the world will care to do it?" The old woman stammered through her tears: "Revered father, I am ready to do
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