The Master remarked, "It is so; but mention a higher still." The Ray said, "The highest devotion is _love)_ (_prem-bhakti_). Witness the following verses of Rámánanda Ráy quoted in the _Padyávali_, cantos xi and xii respectively: _'We relish food and drink only so long as we have hunger and thirst. Similarly, the devotee delights not in worshipping his heart's darling with elaborate Preparations, but in love alone.'_ _'Get a heart inspired with love of Krishna, if ever you can get it. Its only price is greed,--a price which we cannot acquire even by the accumulated merits of ten millions of births.'"_ The Master remarked as before. The Ray replied, "The love of a servant is the highest devotion. Witness the speech of Durváshá in the _Bhágabat_, IX. v. 11:-- _'What is too hard for the Lord's servants to gain, as the very listening to His name purifies all creatures?'"_ The Master remarked, "It is so, but give a still deeper cause." The Ray replied, "Love as for a comrade is the highest form of devotion. Witness Shukdev's words to Parikshit, in the _Bhágabat_, X. xii. 10: _'God is known to the good as the consciousness of divine pleasure (brahma-sukhánubhuti), and to His servants as the Supreme Object of Adoration. That such a God played with the deluded cow-boys in the garb of a human child, was due to their excessive merit.'"_ The Master said, "This too is good. Mention a higher one still." The Ray went on, "The highest devotion is love as for a _child_. Witness the following verses of the _Bhágabat_: _'Shukdev! what high-class meritorious deeds did Nanda perform, and what did the blessed Yashoda do that she suckled the Divine Being?"_ (X. viii. 36). _'The bliss that the cowherd's wife Yashodá derived from her Saviour-son was never gained by Brahma, or Shiva, or even by Lakshmi though clasped to His person.'_ (X. ix. 15.) The Master said, "This is good, no doubt. But mention a higher still." The Ray replied, "Passion as for a lover is the highest form of devotion. Witness the following verses of the _Bhágabat_: _'Verily the favour shown by the Supreme Being to the fair ones of Brindában, when in the rasa sport He clasped them round the neck with His arms, was not enjoyed even by Lakshmi, who is held to His heart, nor by the heavenly nymphs though blooming and odorous like the lotus; not to speak of other women.'_ (X. xlvii. 53) The Ray continued, "Many are the means of attaining to Krishna, and there are degrees of such attainment. By whichever of these means a man is inspired, it appears as the highest to him. It is only when we judge from a position of detachment that we can discriminate them as good, better, and best.