PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

The present volume, like its predecessor, is translated from the diary of a disciple which was printed and published originally in Bengali. In the preparation of the translation, we have assumed the readers' acquaintance with the previous volume, and have therefore refrained from explaining many references to places and persons which are contained therein. A few repetitions, will be found here and there; such repetitions however, are unavoidable in what is but a record of actual conversations held with different persons on different dates. The value of the book, we hope, lies as much in the light the Master's luminous words shed on many intricate problems of life and religion, as in the vivid portraiture it offers of the intensely spiritual yet human life of the Great Master in whom those words were a living realisation. The book also reveals how intimate his relations were with his devotees and with what solicitous care he guided his disciplies to the realisation of the Eternal Life and Love Divine.

We are painfully aware that in their present garb the words of the Master have lost much of their fire and inspiration; but, even as they are, we offer them to the public with the hope that the blessed word may bring solace and comfort to many a weary traveller in the thorny paths of the world.

From the many severe references to Kamini-Kanchana which the book contains, it is not to be inferred that any hatred for 'woman' or 'gold' in themselves is implied. What the Master really means is the strongest condemnation of 'lust' and 'greed'. The reason why he prefers to use concrete terms rather than abstract notions lies in the psychological fact that the ordinary mind is more apt to think in terms of things than principles.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA MATH MYLAPORE, MADRAS October 16, 1922 } PUBLISHERS