VERSE 31

Some will object and ask: 'Are we to worship clay and tree and stone?' God is everywhere. It is therefore folly to look down upon lifeless objects. We have not yet discovered all the secrets of lifeless things. If our devotion enters into a lifeless object, it acquires enormous power. If we recite the songs of the Aalwaars and the Naayanmaars, we shall realize this truth. If we are ever in doubt and without faith, like a vessel without a captain, we shall be tossed about in the sea of life by the winds of doubt and disbelief.

'Thou, Supernal Being! In thy grace thou camest as guest and sat in the lowly hut of Thy servant!' exclaimed Maanikkavaachagar. The 'lowly hut' is the good man's heart. The Supreme Being resides in it. It is not necessary to go about searching for Him elsewhere.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told a story. One night a farmer was sleeping in a shed. He woke up and he wanted to smoke a cigar. In the dead of night he went to a friend in a neighbouring shed and woke him up. The latter came out and asked him what the matter was.

"I wish to light my cigar; will you give me a match-stick?" he answered.

"Fool!" replied the friend, "you carry a lantern in your hand. Forgetting it, you come to me at the dead of night! Why don't you light your cigar from the lantern?"

"Oh! True! I entirely forgot about it" said the first farmer.

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