Only pure love for Thee

Ramakrishna: I prayed to the Divine Mother only for love. I offered flowers at Her Lotus Feet and said with folded hands: “O Mother, here is Thy ignorance and here is Thy knowledge, take them both and give me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy holiness and here is Thy unholiness, take them both and give me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy virtue and here is Thy sin, here is Thy good and here is Thy evil, take them all and give me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy dharma and here is Thy adharma, take them both and give me only pure love for Thee.”

I want love of God

Ramakrishna: Bhakti is the one essential thing. Who can ever know God through reasoning? I want love of God. What do I care about knowing His infinite glories? One bottle of wine makes me drunk. What do I care about knowing how many gallons there are in the grog-shop? One jar of water is enough to quench my thirst. I don’t need to know the amount of water there is on earth.