Realized saint does not think of virtue and vice

Sri Ramakrishna: Did you have any conversation with Bhaskarananda?

Manilal: Yes Thakur, we talked for a long time. Among other things we discussed vice and virtue. He said: Don’t tread the path of sin. Don’t even think of evil. This is what the Lord requires of you. Perform only actions which bring you merit.

Sri Ramakrishna — Yes, that is true as far as worldly people are concerned. But it is different for those who are illumined, who have realized that the Lord is the only reality and all else is unreal and ephemeral. They know that the Lord alone does everything and that we are all non-doers. They who are illumined never take a wrong step, they don’t have to calculate before eschewing sin. They have so much love for the Lord that all their actions are exemplary. But they know that they are not the doers of their actions, they know that they are only the servants of the Lord – that they are only the machines while the Lord is the operator of the machine. They know that what they are doing is by His will, that what they speak is what He makes them speak, that they move the way He makes them move.

“They who are illumined have gone beyond vice and virtue. They see that the Lord is indeed doing everything. There was a monastery whose sadhus used to go out every day to beg holy food. One day one of the sadhus saw that a landlord was badly thrashing a man. The sadhu was very compassionate. He intervened to stop the landlord from beating the man. The landlord was in a rage. All his anger fell on the body of the sadhu – he thrashed him so badly that the sadhu fell unconscious. Somebody went to the monastery to say that one of their sadhus had been harshly beaten by the landlord. The sadhus of the monastery came and saw him lying unconscious. All five of them lifted him, carried him to the monastery and laid him down. They sat around the unconscious sadhu downcast. Some of them fanned him. One of them said, ‘Pour a little milk in his mouth.’ As they did so, the sadhu regained consciousness and opened his eyes. A brother of the monastery said, ‘Let me see whether he has regained consciousness, whether he can recognize us.’ He spoke loudly to the sadhu, asking him, ‘Maharaj! Who is making you drink the milk?’ The sadhu said slowly, ‘Brother, he who beat me is indeed giving me milk to drink.’

“Till one has realized the Lord, one cannot attain such a state.”

Sri Ramakrishna: And did you talk of anything else?

Manilal: I asked him how one could cultivate devotion and love for God. He said, ‘Repeat the Name. Say Rama, Rama.’

Sri Ramakrishna: That is very good.

Source: Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita: Vol 2, Section 3.