God alone is real

 

MASTER: "Gauri used to worship his wife with offerings of flowers. All women are manifestations of the Divine Mother. 

(To Manilal) Please tell them that little story of yours."

MANILAL (smiling): "Once several men were crossing the Ganges in a boat. One of them, a pundit, was making a great display of his erudition, saying that he had studied various books-the Vedas, the Vedānta, and

the six systems of philosophy. He asked a fellow passenger, 'Do you know the Vedānta?' 'No, revered sir.'

'The Samkhya and the Patanjala?' 'No, revered sir.' 'Have you read no philosophy whatsoever?' 'No, revered sir.' 

The pundit was talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in silence, when a great storm arose and the boat was about to sink. The passenger said to the pundit, 'Sir, can you swim?' 'No', replied the pundit.

The passenger said, 'I don't know the Samkhya or the Patanjala, but I can swim.' "

MASTER (smiling): "What will a man gain by knowing many scriptures? The one thing needful is to know how to cross the river of the world. God alone is real, and all else illusory.

"While Arjuna was aiming his arrow at the eye of the bird, Drona asked him: 

'What do you see? Do you see these kings?' 'No, sir', replied Arjuna. 

'Do you 'See me'?' 'No.' 

'The tree?' 'No.' 

'The bird on the tree?' 'No.'

'What do you see then?' 

'Only the eye of the bird.'

"He who sees only the eye of the bird can hit the mark. He alone is clever who sees that God is real and all else is illusory. 

What need have I of other information? Hanuman once remarked: 'I don't know anything about the phase of the moon or the position of the stars. I only contemplate Rāma.'

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.