God lived with them

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Swami Advaitananda

A few days after becoming acquainted with the Master, Gopal felt intense renunciation and expressed his desire to go for a pilgrimage. On 5 April 1884, M. recorded the following conversation in the Gospel:

Master (to the elder Gopal):" Do you intend to go on a pilgrimage now?"

Gopal: " Yes, sir. I should like to wander about a little."

Master ( to the elder Gopal and other devotees):" As long as a man feels that God is ' there', he is ignorant. But he attains knowledge when he feels that God is 'here'.

"A man wanted a smoke. He went to a neighbour's house to light his charcoal. It was the dead of night and the household was asleep. After he had knocked a great deal, someone came down to open the door. At the sight of the man he asked,' Hello! What's the matter?' The man replied:' Can't you guess? You know how fond I am of smoking. I have come here to light my charcoal.'

The neighbour said: ' Ha!Ha! You are a fine man indeed! You took the trouble to come and do all this knocking at the door! Why, you have  a lighted lantern in your hand!'