Surendra, a beloved lay disciple of the Master, had invited him to his house on the auspicious occasion of the Annapurna Puja. It was about six o'clock when Sri Ramakrishna arrived there with some of his devotees. The image of the Divine Mother had been installed in the worship hall. At Her feet lay hibiscus flowers and vilwa-leaves; from Her neck hung a garland of flowers. Sri Ramakrishna entered the hall and bowed down before the image. Then he went to the open courtyard, where he sat on a carpet, surrounded by his devotees and disciples. A few bolsters lay on the carpet, which was covered with a white linen sheet. He was asked to lean against one of these, but he pushed it aside.
Sri Ramakrishna (to the devotees): "To lean against a bolster!" (Rich and aristocratic persons seeking comfort generally sit in this fashion.) You see, it is very difficult to give up vanity. You may discriminate, saving that the ego is nothing at all; but still it comes, nobody knows from where. A goat's legs jerk for a few moments even after its head has been cut off. Or perhaps you are frightened in a dream; you shake off sleep and are wide awake, but still you feel your heart palpitating. Egotism is exactly like that. You may drive it away, but still it appears from somewhere. Then you look sullen and say: 'What! I have not been shown proper respect!'"
Note: A bolster is a long thick pillow. Here it indicates comfort. IMHO, the essence is to not let mind loose and always keep a check on ego. If a sadhaka (a seeker of truth) realizes that a certain attitude causes his / her ego to increase then one must make conscious effort to correct it. Sri Ramakrishna explains to us in a symbolic way through an incident.
Kedar: "'One should be lowlier than a straw and patient as a tree.'"
Sri Ramakrishna: "As for me, I consider myself as a speck of the dust of the devotee's feet."
Vaidyanath arrived. He was a well-educated man, a lawyer of the High Court of Calcutta. With folded hands he saluted Sri Ramakrishna and took his seat at one side.
Surendra (to Thakur ji - Sri Ramakrishna): "He is one of my relatives."
(Sri Ramakrishna is also known as Thakur ji)
Sri Ramakrishna: "Yes, I see he has a nice nature."
Surendra: "He has come here because he wants to ask you a question or two."
Sri Ramakrishna (to Vaidyanath): "All that you see is the manifestation of God's Power. No one can do anything without this Power. But you must remember that there is not an equal manifestation of God's Power in all things. Vidyasagar once asked me whether God endowed some with greater power than others. I said to him; 'If there are no greater and lesser manifestations of His Power, then why have we taken the trouble to visit you? Have you grown two horns?' So it stands to reason that God exists in all beings as the All-pervasive Power; but the manifestations of His Power are different in different beings."
Vaidyanath (to Sri Ramakrishna): "Thakur ji, I have a doubt. People speak of free will. They say that a man can do either good or evil according to his will. Is it true? Are we really free to do whatever we like?"
Sri Ramakrishna: "Everything depends on the will of God. The world is His play. He has created all these different things — great and small, strong and weak, good and bad, virtuous and vicious. This is all His maya, His sport. You must have observed that all the trees in a garden are not of the same kind.
"As long as a man has not realized God, he thinks he is free. It is God Himself who keeps this error in man. Otherwise sin would have multiplied. Man would not have been afraid of sin, and there would have been no punishment for it.
"But do you know the attitude of one who has realized God? He feels: 'I am the machine, and Thou, O Lord, art the Operator. I am the house and Thou art the Indweller. I am the chariot and Thou art the Driver. I move as Thou movest me; I speak as Thou makest me speak.'
Note: A Self Realised person will not have ego like layman. His ego is merged in God.
(To Vaidyanath): "It is not good to argue. Isn't that so?"
Vaidyanath: "Yes, sir. The desire to argue disappears when a man attains wisdom."
Sri Ramakrishna, out of his stock of a dozen English words, said, "Thank you!" in the most charming way, and all laughed.
Sri Ramakrishna (to Vaidyanath): "You will make spiritual progress. People don't trust a man when he speaks about God. Even if a great soul affirms that he has seen God, still the average person will not accept his words. He says to himself, 'If this man has really seen God, then let him show Him to me.' But can a man learn to feel a person's pulse in one day? He must go about with a physician for many days; only then can he distinguish the different pulses. He must be in the company of those with whom the examination of the pulse has become a regular profession.
"Can anyone and everyone pick out a yarn of a particular count? If you are in that trade, you can distinguish in a moment a forty-count thread from a forty-one."
Note: Constant company of holy men purifies one inwardly. After achieving certain purification of mind, one begins to understand spiritual path and the teachings of shastras.
Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
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