hings,--can rest contented
without struggling to attain it? No, he will become mad with longing."

At length, after almost twelve years unceasing effort, and undivided
purpose Sri Ramakrishna was rewarded with what has been described as "a
torrent of spiritual light, deluging his mind and giving him peace."

This wonderful insight he displayed in all the after years of his earthly
mission, and he not only attained glimpses of the cosmic conscious state,
but he also retained the Illumination, and the power to impart to a great
degree, the realization of that state of being which he himself possessed.

Like the Lord Buddha, this Indian sage also describes his experience as
accompanied by "unbounded light." Speaking of this strange and overpowering
sense of being immersed in light, Sri Ramakrishna described it thus: "The
living light to which the earnest devotee is drawn doth not burn. It is
like the light coming from a gem, shining yet soft, cool and soothing. It
burneth not. It giveth peace and joy."

This effect of great light, is an almost invariable accompaniment of
supra-consciousness, although there are instances of undoubted cosmic
consciousness in which the realization has been a more gradual growth,
rather than a sudden influx, in which the phenomenon of _light_ is not
greatly marked.

Mohammed is said to have swooned with the "intolerable splendor" of the
flood of white light which broke upon him, after many days of constant
prayer and meditation, in the solitude of the cavern outside the gates of
Mecca.

Similar is the description of the attainment of cosmic consciousness, given
by the Persian mystics, although it is evident that the Sufis regarded the
result as reunion with "the other half" of the soul in exile.

The burden of their cry is love, and "union with the beloved" is the
longed-for goal of all earthly strife and experience.

Whether this reunion be considered from the standpoint of finding the other
half of the perfect one, as exemplified in the present-day search for the
soul mate, or whether it be considered in the light of a spiritual merging
into the One Eternal Absolute is the question of questions.

Certainly the terms used to express this state of spiritual ecstacy are
words which might readily be applied to lovers united in marriage.

One thing is certain, the Sufis did not personify the Deity, except
symbolically, and the "beloved one" is impartially referred to as masculine
or fem