On another occasion Babaji's sacred circle was disturbed by the arrival of a stranger. He had climbed with astonishing skill to the nearly inaccessible lodge near the Guru's camp. "Sir, you must be the great Babaji." The man's face was lit with inexpressible reverence. "For months I have pursued a ceaseless search for you among these forbidding crags. I implore you to accept me as a disciple." When the Great Guru made no response the man pointed to the rock-lined chasm below the ledge. "If you refuse me I will jump from the mountain. Life has no further value if I cannot win your guidance to the Divine." "Jump, then," Babaji said unemotionally. "I cannot accept you in your present state of development." The man immediately hurled himself over the cliff. Babaji instructed the shocked disciples to fetch the stranger's body. After they had returned with the mangled form, the Master placed his hand on the dead man. Lo! He opened his eyes and prostrated himself humbly before the omnipotent Guru. "You are now ready for discipleship," Babaji beamed lovingly on his resurrected disciple. "You have courageously passed a difficult test."

Once upon a time a wood cutter went into a forest to chop wood. There suddenly he met a bramachari. The holy man said to him, «  My good man, go forward». On returning home the wood-cutter asked himself, «  Why did the Brahmachari tell me to go forward? » Some time passed. One day he remembered the brahmachari’s words. He said to himself,  « Today I shall go deeper into the forest. » Going deep into the forest, he discovered innumerable sandal-wood trees. He was very happy and returned with cart-loads of sandal-wood. He sold them in the market and became very rich.

A few days later he again remembered the words of the holy man to go forward. He went deeper into the forest and discovered a silver -mine near a river. This was even beyond his dreams. He dug out silver from the mine and sold it in the market. He got so much money that he didn't even know how much he had.

A few days more passed. One day he thought: " The brahmachari didn't ask me to sop at the silver-mine; he told me to go forward. " This time he went to the other side of the river and found a gold-mine. The he exclaimed: " Ah, just see! This is why he asked me to go forward!"

Again, a few days afterwards, he went still deeper into the forest and found heaps of diamonds and other precious gems. He took these also and became as rich as the god of wealth himself.

Whatever you may do, you will find better and better things if only you go forward. You may feel a little ecstasy as the result of japa, but don't conclude from this that you have achieved everything in spiritual life.

In a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples. One day he taught them to see God in all beings and knowing this, to bow low before them all. A disciple went to the forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire. Suddenly he heard an outcry, "Get out of the way! A mad elephant is coming!" All but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels. He reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form. Then why should he run away from it? He stood still, bowed before the animal, and began to sing its praises. The mahut of the elephant was shouting: " Run away! Run away! " But the disciple didn't move . The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and went on its way. Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground. Hearing what had happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him, to the hermitage. With the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness. Some one asked him, "You know the elephant was coming-why didn't you leave the place?" "But," he said, " our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men. Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming, I didn't run away." At this the teacher said: "yes, my child, it is true that the elephant God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there. Since all are manifestations of God, why didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God."

Once Lord Krsna was walking with Arjuna, visiting the houses of his various devotees. They entered the palace of a rich man, who feasted them with many delicacies. After the meal Lord Krsna said, "You are my devotee and you have served me well. May your riches increase one thousand-fold." The man was overjoyed and thanked Lord Krsna with great fervor. The next day they visited the hut of an old widow who had nothing left in the world except her old cow which was her sole companion and only means of support. After she had fed the Lord on a simple meal of milk and bread, the Lord said, "You are my devotee and you have served me well. Tomorrow your cow will die. " And they left the hut. Arjuna's mind was in turmoil. How could the Lord have blessed that rich, materialistic man with so much wealth, and cursed that poor devout lady with the death of her cow? Lord Krsna, knowing his disciple's confusion, said gently, "The ways of the Lord are often very mysterious; you cannot always understand them. You see, that man had such desire for more material possession, and I fulfilled that desire. Now he will soon tire of this treasures and his mind will turn more and more towards Me. And that poor old lady whom you pity so -- she is almost freed from all her worldly bondage, but her mind is on Me only half the time. The rest of the time it is on her beloved cow. Now that the cow is dead she will think only of Me, and very soon she will attain complete Liberation."

There was an old woman nicknamed "weeping Hag." She cried when it rained, she also cried when it did not rain. Once, one monk asked her:
- Old lady, what are you crying for?
- I have two daughters, the elder sells cloth shoes and the younger sells umbrellas.
- When the weather is fine, I think of my younger daughter whose umbrellas are not in demand. When it rains, I think of my elder daughter. During rainy days, no customers will want to go to her shop to buy shoes.
-You should think of business being good for your elder daughter when the weather is fine. During rainy days, your younger daughter’s umbrellas will definitely sell well.

Since then , "weeping Hag" no longer cried. She smiled at all times, rain or shine.

King Mahmud of Ghazni, who invaded India seventeen times during the eleventh century, was a Turk whose ancestors had come from central Asia. Today, Ghazni is a small village in Afghanistan, but during Mahmud's reign it was probably the richest city in all Asia. This was all due to the enormous treasures of gold and jewels that Mahmud took from Indian cities and temples.

When this powerful and cruel ruler was about to die, he asked his courtiers to display all of his wealth and arrange it so he could look at it once more before he died. When this was done, Mahmud was carried past his hoarded treasures in a palanquin. When after several hours he had feasted his eyes on piles of gold coins, diamonds, rubies, pearls, emeralds, marvelously wrought images and hosts of other priceless objects, the tears began to flow unchecked from Mahmud of Ghazni's eyes. Addressing his courtiers, he said:

How many tens of thousands have I slained,
How many thousand widows have I made,
How many children now, because of me , are orphans.
Yet nothing, not the smallest piece of gold,
Is going with me now that death is nigh.

As the king realized more and more deeply the enormity of his crimes and the uselessness of his treasures, the tears continued to stream from his eyes as he told his courtiers:
"When you take my body to be buried, please keep both of my hands outside of the coffins the people can see that a great king has left this world absolutely empty-handed, and may learn a lesson from my life."

A military officer approached Japanese Zen master Hakuin Ekaku and asked:
-"Is there really heaven and hell?"
-"What are you?
- I am a general.
- Ha! Ha! which fool employed you to be a general? Why, you look more like a butcher!
- What! I will cut you down!
-Here open the gates of hell!
- I am sorry... Please forgive me for my rudeness.
- Here open the gates of heaven.

A brahmana was laying out a garden. He looked after it day and night. One day a cow strayed into the garden and browsed on a mango sapling of which the brahmana used to take special care. When he saw the cow destroying his favorite plant, the brahmana became wild with rage, and gave such a severe beating to the animal that it died of the injuries received. The news soon spread like wild-fire that the brahmana had killed the sacred animal. When any one attributed the sin of that act to him, the brahmana, who professed himself to be a Vedantin, denied the charge, saying: " No, I have not killed the cow, it is my hand that has done it; and as god Indra is the presiding deity of the hand, it is he who has incurred the sin of killing the cow, not I." Indra, in his heaven, heard of this. He assumed the shape of and old brahmana, and coming to the owner of the garden, said, "Sir, whose garden is this?
"Brahmana: Mine.
Indra: It is a beautiful garden. You have got a skillful gardener; for see how neatly and artistically he has planted the trees.
Brahmana: Well, sir, that is all my work. The trees were planted under my personal supervision and direction.
Indra: Very nicely done, indeed! Who has laid out this path? It is very well-planned and neatly executed.
Brahmana: All that has been done by me.
Then Indra said with folded hands, "When all these things are yours, and when you take credit for all the work done in this garden, it is not proper that poor Indra should be made responsible for killing the cow."

A musulman, while saying his prayers shouted: " O Allah! O Allah!" Another person said to him: " You are calling the name of Allah. That's all right. But why are you shouting like that? Don't you know that He hears the sound of the anklets on the feet of an ant?"

When the mind is united with God, one sees him very near, in one's own heart.

In the old days, Gurus used to constantly travel to visit disciples. But one Guru became to old and used to travel along with one disciple. This disciple was not intelligent, but thought he was. He also was greedy. They arrived in one place. It was a very special country where the price of everything was the same. When the Guru realized the situation he told: "that King must be a great fool, let’s go before we get into some troubles." But the greedy disciple thought, "let me stay here to eat continuously". The Guru tried to convince his disciple otherwise, but to no avail. "If you get into troubles", he finally told him, "just think about me, and I will come".

After a few days, the disciple was caught stealing food, and was brought before the king for judgement. After hearing the case, the king announced: "He will be hanged tomorrow at 8 AM! Let everyone come to witness what happens with robbers!"

Long before 8 AM, a huge crowd started to gather to see the execution. At this sight, the disciple started to panic and he suddenly remembered what His guru had told him before, and by every passing minute, the thought of his Guru was occupying his mind more and more.

Finally, just 5 minutes before 8 AM, and old man appeared running and He shouted to the king: "Wait! Wait! According to my calculations, whoever dies from hanging today at 8 AM will directly go to heaven!" And he added: "I want to go to heaven instead of my disciple, so please hang me in his place!"

On hearing this, the king rushed forward and announced proudly for everyone to hear: "Only me, the King can go the heaven!" And he ordered his soldiers to hang him on the spot.

When King Janak became eager to do spiritual practice, he called all the rishis and munis to his court. He also had a stage built and said:
"Whoever can reveal to me the true Knowledge in the same length of time that it takes to mount a horse, please come and sit on the stage."
The rishis and munis thought that this could be done only after they had taught him from the very beginning; that knowledge was not like something that could be passed on to him to drink.
But one of the sages, named Ashtavakar, was himself a realized soul and said that he could do what the king wanted. He was hunchback and ugly, so the people looked down upon him and jeered at him. But after being insulted in this way by the rishis and munis, Ashtavakar said:
"I was under the impression that this was a meeting of hermits and sages, and not of cobblers and low castes."
The king asked him what he meant by these words, and Ashtavakar replied:
"Judging the beauty and colour of a skin is entirely the work of cobblers and people who deal with prostitutes. »
On hearing this, King Janak sought the True Knowledge form Ashtavakar.
When King Janak had seated himself before Ashtavakar, the sage asked him:
"O King, are you certain that you are really eager to have your request granted?":
"There is no doubt whatever in my mind," replied the king.
"I am seeking for the True Knowledge with the utmost earnestness."
Ashtavakar then turned to the assembled holy men and asked:
"Is there anyone among you, rishis and munis, who can impart True Knowledge to the king, and that right quickly?"
There was utter silence.
Addressing the king, Ashtavakar said:
"King Janak, there is price that must be paid for obtaining this True Knowledge. Are you prepared to pay it, no matter what it may be?"
"Yes, " said the king.
"Then I will tell you the price," said Ashtavakar. "and listen carefully. The price consists of three things that you must give to me: your body, your mind, and your wealth. Is this agreeable to you?"
The king said:
"Yes, it is agreeable to me."
Ashtavakar then told the king:
"You should think this matter over very carefully, and only after thorough deliberation should you promise to hand over to me the three things."
The king assured him with great earnestness:
"Ashtavakar, I have already given the matter the most careful thought. There is no doubt whatever in my mind. I will be glad to pay the price."
After the king had made the promise, Ashtavakar said:
"Now that you have surrendered everything -your body, mind and wealth- to me, will you please leave your throne and come down and sit where all the shoes of your people are lying?"
The king was quite annoyed at this, but soon realized that he had already given everything to this rishi. So he quietly left his throne and sat among the shoes of his subjects. When Ashtavakar made this request to the king, he was quite aware that many people do not advance spiritually because of their sense of ego, honor and glory.
When the king had seated himself amidst the shoes, Ashtavakar told him:
"Now, please do not allow your mind to think of your wealth, since your have no wealth of your own to think about. It all belongs to me."
At the time that this order was given, the mind of the king was sometimes thinking about his wealth, sometimes of his other possessions, sometimes of his kingdom and sometimes of his wife and children. But on hearing the words of Ashtavakar, he realized that is was useless to think of any of these things, as they no longer belonged to him.
And so his mind came back to its center. Like a crow on a ship, his mind had no other place to go but to come back and sit on the ship.
As the king had been enjoined to stop his mind from going out to anything that did not belong to him, he covered his eyes so that his attention would not go out. Then Ashtavakar said to him:
"This mind is mine, and you have no right even to think with it nor to have any desires."
Then King Janak complied and withdrew his entire attention form outside and from his body up to the eyes, the rishi immediately gave his own attention to the king with the result that the king's soul went up to higher realms. Ashtavakar verbally called him again and again, but there was no reply, as the king was deeply merged in True Knowledge or Inner Bliss.
Later on, with his own attention, Ashtavakar brought the King’s attention back into his body and asked him:
"Have you obtained the True Knowledge you requested?" The king replied:
"I have obtained it, O Ashtavakar, and it is far greater, more glorious and blissful than I had ever dreamed that it could be."
After this, Ashtavakar said:
"I have no need for your body, mind or wealth; so I return them all to you. You are to act as a steward and use them on my behalf. By giving up the world and your worldly possessions, you have received the priceless gift of Ram, the Word of God. Henceforth, you will cease to crave for happiness and riches in this world, but shall crave only the Love of the Lord and the Bliss of His Presence.

Bhai Manjh, owned a village and worshipped the tomb of saint Sakhi Sarvar. One day he listened to Guru's Arjan 's discourse, and he begged him for initiation.  OK, he said, but first you should destroy your Puja room. People were watching him while he was razing the room and they were telling him: « You will have to pay heavily for such a desecration ». Manjh said He is ready to suffer the consequences. Then he was initiated. Soon his horse died, then some bullocks, and he also got things stolen., People told him he should rebuild the temple.But he replied: «  I don't care what happens,the Guru is all knowing, and always does all for the best. Then he contracted some debts, and had to leave the village with his wife and daughter. He started cutting and selling it in other villages. After several months, his Guru sent a letter with one disciple. He had to sell his wife ornaments to give the 20 Roupies requested by the Guru, in exchange for the letter. After kissing the letter and lifting it to forehead and eyes, he went into Samadhi. After 2 years, he recieved another letter, and gave 25 Roupies he had saved for his daughter dowry for the letter. After that the Guru asked them to come to serve Him. They came and worked in the guru’s kitchen, cutting firewood. After few days, Guru sayed they were not performing real service, because they are getting wages in food. From that day, they were cutting wood at night, selling it for food. One night there was a great wind and Manjh fell into a well with his wood. The Guru went to rescue him with some disciples. The Guru asked his disciples to say to Manjh , before pulling him out of the well. "Brother, see the wretched condition you are in. And it's all due to the way the Guru has treated you. Why don't you forget a Guru who does such things?" Manjh replied: "What? Forget the beloved Guru? Never! And as for you, ungrateful ones, please never again speak so disrespectfully of the Guru in my presence. It makes me suffer agonies to hear such shameful words." Then he asked: « can you take out the wood first, because as it is for the Guru's kitchen, it should not get wet ».The Guru appeared and told him: «  you have gone through all tests with courage, faith and devotion for Guru. I can make you the ruler of the universe if you wish so. » Manjh fell on his knees before the beloved Guru, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, exclaimed:
"What boon could I wish for, my Guru, but you alone? I want you alone. Nothing else could ever be of any interest to me. »
The Guru said:
« Manjh is the darling of his Guru.
And guru is Manjh's only love;
Manjh now, like Guru, is a ship,
That carries people safely across
The ocean of phenomena. »

There was an army physician who followed the troops as they went into battle. He tended to wounded soldiers in the battlefield. Whenever his patients had recovered form their injuries, they were once again sent to continue fighting. As a result, they were wounded once a again or killed...After seeing this scenario again and again, he eventually suffered a nervous breakdown. He did not understand whether there was any meaning in his being an army physician, and he was troubled that he could not continue healing others. As a result, he went up a mountain to seek out a Zen master. After being with a Zen master for a few months...Finally, he understood his problem completely. He descended the mountain to continue practicing as a physician. He said: It’s because I am a physician.

Finding no water near-by, he went far from the place and saw a river at a great distance. When he approached the river, he saw a most charming young lady sitting there, and was at once captivated by her beauty. As soon as Narada went near her, she began to address him in sweet words, and before long, both fell in love with each other. Narada then married her, and settled down as a householder. In course of time he had a number of children by her. And while he was thus living happily with his wife and children, there came a pestilence in the country. Death began to collect its toll from every place. Then Narada proposed to abandon the place and go somewhere else. His wife acceded to it and they both came out of their house leading their children by the hand. But no sooner did they come to the bridge to cross the river than there came a terrible flood, and in the rush of water, all their children were swept away one after another, and at last the wife too was drowned. Overwhelmed with grief at his bereavement, Narada sat down on the bank and began to weep piteously. Just then the Lord appeared before him, saying. " O Narada, where is the water? And why are you weeping?" The sight of the Lord startled the sage and then he understood everything. He exclaimed, " Lord, my obeisance to Thee, and my obeisance also to Thy wonderful Maya!"

As Lord Buddha was walking one day along a country road, he met a shepherd who was driving his flock of sheep and goats to a nearby hill, where there was a good grazing ground. One of the goats was lame and limped along slowly, always falling behind the rest of the flock. But the shepherd showed no pity for the poor beast, and lashed it mercilessly to make it keep up with the herd.
When Lord Buddha saw what was going on, his heart was moved by pity and compassion. Stepping up to the shepherd, he asked:
"Where are you going with your herd?"
The shepherd pointed to the nearby hill.
"Would you have any objection if I should carry this poor lame goat to the top of the hill on my shoulders?" asked Lord Buddha.
The shepherd laughed..
"Why, of course not," he replied.
So Lord Buddha happily carried the goat to the top of the hill and left it there with the rest of the flock.

After many conquest, in northwestern India, Alexander was about to return to his homeland. He asked his astrologers how and when he was going to die. The astrologers said:   « not until the earth turns into iron and the sky into gold .» Alexander thought that such a miracle will take ages to pass. « I will live for many years. » But as he started riding towards Persia, he got malaria in the Seistan Desert, which is now in Afghanistan. Alexander told his chief minister riding near him: "A fever has come to me. My strength has gone and I can ride no farther." His anxious minister told: « please ride just a few miles more. We may find a tree under whose shade you can lie down and rest. » But no tree was to be found and there was a scorching sun. Alexander, to weak to ride, laid down on the hot ground. His minister spread on the ground his coat of iron chain-mail lined with forty layers of silk , and Alexander rested on the soft couch of silk. The minister also held his shield over the king's face to shade him from the sun. As Alexander saw the strips of gold decorating the shield, he remembered the prediction. It had now come true. The doctors around him were saying: you are going to die very soon. But Alexander still refused to believe that death could be so close at hand.

" O faithful friend", he gasped, to his chief minister, "announce that I will give half my kingdom to any man who will enable me to live long enough to have a last glimpse of my mother. But the doctors replied: " It’s impossible, you have but a minute or two to live."

Panic stricken, Alexander cried out in a loud voice: "To whoever will take me alive to my mother, I will give all my conquests, holding nothing back. As for myself, I will live on alms." A doctor again told him: « Your Majesty, there is no one who can prevent your dying now. » At this, the mighty Terror of Nations burst into tears and wept like a child. A wandering saint, Who happened to pass by and who had stopped to gaze in silence at the dying king, now approached the minister. "O Excellency, what a pity that your great master threw away his life for nothing. For, the conquest of all the world is as nothing when compared to the great Gift of the Saints The Nam, or Holy Name, that can free you forever from this world and take you to the higher Realms of Bliss, where thoughts of bloody conquests are unknown."

In the district of Bengal lived a King notorious for his corruption. But his wife was a well respected and good queen, Rajadevi. Often the people came to complain to her. And each time, she tells them: « you should revolt! », they always reply: « but we have no leaders.» One day she finally said, «I shall give you leadership.» The queen lead the people’s revolt and the king was defeated. Then the queen asked the people, "what shall be his punishment?" they said, "no we should not kill him, he is your husband." She said, "He should be killed." Then no one would kill him when she asked,» who will kill him?" So she said, "I will kill him." She chopped his head. Then she asked,» who will take the kingdom?" They said, "You" She said, «no", otherwise it will be said "she killed her husband to take the kingdom!" Then she self-immolated on a funeral pyre.

There was a monastery in a certain place. The monks residing there went out daily to beg their food. One day a monk, while out for his alms, saw a landlord beating a man mercilessly. The compassionate monk stepped in and asked the landlord to stop. But the landlord was filled with anger and turned his wrath against the innocent monk. He beat the monk till he fell unconscious on the ground.. Someone reported the matter to the monastery. The monks ran to the spot and found their brother lying there. Four or five of them carried him back and laid him on a bed. He was still unconscious. The other monks sat around him sad at heart; some were fanning him. finally someone suggested that he should be given a little milk to drink. When it was poured into his mouth he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around. One of the monks said, " Let us see whether he is fully conscious and can recognize us. " Shouting into his ear, he said, Revered sir, who is giving you milk? " " Brother," replied the holy man in a low voice, " he who beat me is now giving me milk. "

Master, I am all right, thanks to your kind instructions. Much good has come to me by following the line of thought prescribed by you. Time and again I see a beautiful figure with four hands within my sheep and I find supreme bliss in that."

When this powerful and cruel roler was abouit to die, he asked his courtiers to display all of his wealth and arrange it so he could look at it once more before he died. When this was done, Mahmud was carried past his hoarded treasures in a palanquin. When after several hours he had feasted his eyes on piles of gold coins, diamonds, rubies, pearls, emeralds, marvelously wrought images and hosts of other priceless objects, the tears began to flow unchecked from Mahmud of Ghazni's eyes. Addressing his courtiers, he said:

How many tens of thousands have I slain,
How many thousand widows have I make,
How many children now, becouse of me , are orphans.
Yet nothing, not the smallest piece of gold,
Is going with me now that death is nigh.

As the king realized more and more deeply the enormity of his crimes and the uselessness of his treasures, the tears continued to stream from his eyes as he told his courtiers:
"When you take my body to be buried, please keep both of my hands ouside of the coffinso the people can see that a great king has left this world absolutely empty-handed, and may learn a lesson from my life."

At the time of the Mahabharata in the East of India was a kingdom ruled by a good queen named Citrangala. There was harmony, peace and progress because of her ruling. But she was very ugly looking. Arjuna traveled to that land and upon seeing him she wanted to marry him. But she was ashamed of her appearance and prayed to God to give her beauty for one year. Then they met in the forest and Arjuna asked, «I heard about a queen, her country is so well governed, she will be the fittest queen for me." Citrangala said, "but she is not beautiful" and she delayed revealing herself. Before the year was over, however, she revealed herself in original form. Arjuna liked her. She said, «I am not a goddess for you to worship, I am not an ordinary women that you can throw away or neglect. But if you are ready to share my responsibilities, burdens, pleasure and pain, then you will understand my values." They were married.

A certain sadhu lived for some time in the room above the nahavat-khana (concert-room) of the temple of Dakshineswar. He did not speak with anybody and spent his whole time in the meditation of God. One day all of a sudden, a cloud darkened the sky and shortly afterwards a high wind blew away the cloud. The holy man now came out of his room and began to laugh and dance in the veranda in front of the concert-room. Upon this I asked him, «How is it that you, who spend your days so quietly in your room, are dancing in joy and feel so jolly today?" The holy man replied, " Such is Maya that envelops the life! At first there is clear sky, all of a sudden a cloud darkens it and presently every thing is as before once more.

Men may be divided into four classes: Those bound by the fetters of the world, the seekers of liberation, the liberated and the everfree.

Among the everfree we may count sages like Narada. They live in the world for the good of others, to teach men spiritual truths.

Those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and are forgetful of God. Not even by mistake do they think of God.

The seekers of liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world. Some of them succeed and others do not.

The liberated souls, such as the Sadhus and Mahatmas, are not entangled in the world, in "woman and gold.' Their minds are free from worldliness. Besides they always meditate on the Lotus Feet of God.

Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net. They are like the everfree. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of them try to free themselves from it and they are like those who seek liberation. But not all the fish that struggle succeed. A very few do jump out of the net, making a big splash in the water. Then the fishermen shout, ' Look! There goes a big one! ' But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make any effort to get out. One the contrary, they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietly, thinking, 'We need not fear any more; we are quite safe here.' But the poor things do not know that the fishermen will drag them out with the net. These are like the men bound in the world.