Ram Babu: Bhagavan, now I have understood why a Guru asks his disciple to visit holy places, to give him experience and to increase his faith in his teachings.

Pandit: Revered Sir, how far did your Holiness go on pilgrimages?

Ramakrishna (smiling): Well, I went to

[Pilgrimages.] some places. Hazra went farther and higher up, to Hrishikesha [**] in the Himalayas. I did not go so far or so high up. The vulture and the kite soar very high, but their eyes are all the while directed to the charnel-pits below. Do you know what the charnel-pits are? Lust and gold. If in going on a pilgrimage a man does not acquire Bhakti, then his pilgrimage is fruitless; for Bhakti is the end of all; it is the one thing needful.

Do you know what the vulture and the kite are? They are those who talk on lofty subjects and say: "We have performed most of the works enjoined in the Holy Scriptures," but whose minds are immersed in worldliness and strongly attached to wealth, name, fame, and sense-pleasures.

Pandit: Yes, Revered Sir, that is true. Going on a pilgrimage is like casting aside the precious stone worn on the breast of Vishnu and wandering about in search of other jewels.

Ramakrishna: Again, you should know that although you may give thousands of instructions, still they will not produce results until

the time is ripe. A child before going to sleep says to its mother: "Mamma dear, awaken me when I shall feel hungry." The mother replies: "Do not worry about that, my child; thy hunger will awaken thee." In the same manner one yearns after God when the proper time comes for it.

[Three classes of religious teachers.] Physicians can be divided into three classes. First, those who, when called in, look at the patient, feel his pulse, prescribe the necessary medicines and then ask the patient to take them. If the patient declines to do so, they do not care. This is the lowest class. Similarly there are spiritual teachers who do not care to know whether their instructions have been practised or whether they have produced good results in their disciples. There are other physicians who not only ask the patient to take the prescribed drug but who reason with him if he refuses to take it. These belong to the medium class. Similarly those spiritual teachers who not only instruct their pupils but reason with them and gently persuade them to follow their teachings, are better than those of the first class. But the best physicians, who belong to the highest class, use force on the patient if he does not listen to their gentle persuasions.

[paragraph continues] They may go so far as to make him swallow the medicine by force if necessary. Similarly the best spiritual masters use force on their disciples to bring them into the path of the Lord. These teachers belong to the highest class.