THE YOUNGER NAREN: "Sir, have we any free will?"
MASTER: "Just try to find out who this 'I' is. While you are searching for 'I', 'He' comes out. 'I am the machine and He is the Operator.' You have heard of a mechanical toy that goes into a store with a letter in its hand. You are like that toy. God alone is the Doer. Do your duties in the world as if you were the doer, but knowing all the time that God alone is the Doer and you are the instrument.
As long as the Upādhi exists there is ignorance. 'I am a scholar', 'I am a Jnāni', 'I am wealthy', 'I am honourable', 'I am the master, father, and teacher' - all these ideas are begotten of ignorance. 'I am the machine and You are the Operator' - that is Knowledge. In the state of Knowledge all Upādhis are destroyed. When the log is burnt up entirely, there is no more sound; no heat either. Everything cools down. Peace! Peace! Peace!
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 804 (14 July 1885)
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