118 IN THE VISION OF GOD
rubbing this clay pot (meaning the body) it might break to
pieces." And he would laugh.
Very often Eamdas was served with meals first. One
day in preparing the dal curry the mother of the house
had forgotten to add salt. He took meals without noting
the omission. They fotmd it out when they tasted the
curry only at their meala. They asked him how it was
that he did not call for salt when he was eating the
tasteless stuff.
"He never felt anything wrong with the taste,"
Ramdas replied. "In fact Ms mind was not there to
discriminate taste."
Among the visitors "were poet Chattopadhyaya and his
talented wife, Kamaladevi. They brought with them many
of their friends among whom were a senior wrangler and
his devout mother. The poet courted Ramdas' society
frequently and for long hours. Being a votary of the
goddess of emotion and beauty, he was by nature
affectionate and loving. Ramdas enjoyed his company
immensely.
One evening in the co"nrse of a talk with Ramcharandas,
Bamdas discoursed upon attachment and the sense of
possession: "Attachment to things is the source of fear and
anxiety—the destroyer of peace. The sense of possession is
responsible for the restless nature of the mind and so it
refuses to be concentrated upon the absolute Truth of your
being. Give up, therefore, attachment to the objects you
have with you. 'Possess things but do not be possessed by
them.' Whenever you accept presents take it that the
Lord Himself gives you the things, and the moment; an
occasion comes when you have to part with them, give them
away, with as much delight as when you received them.
Understand tlxat you are returning them only to Him who
g&ve them to you. In the same light consider every gain
and loss. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away."
At noon, the next day* lfoTy><^hft:ifo'Ddag gyifl - "Swamiji,