Doctor (to the disciples): He expresses regret for what he does. He feels that the act is wrong.

Sri Ramakrishna (to Girish): You have great penetration. You explain it all to him, will you not?

Girish (to the Doctor): Sir, you are quite mistaken. He is by no means sorry that His feet touch the persons of the devotees. No, it is not that. His body is pure, sinless; it is purity itself. He is good enough, in His anxiety for their spiritual welfare, to allow His Hallowed Feet to touch the bodies of the devotees. As a result of His taking their sins upon Himself, His own body, He thinks, may be suffering from disease. Think of your own case. You were once taken ill, so you have told us, as the

result of hard study. Well, did you not at that time express regret that you had sat up reading until very late at night? Does that prove that reading until the late hours of the night is bad? The Bhagavan may be sorry from the point of view of the patient; He is by no means sorry from the point of view of a Teacher from God anxious for the welfare of humanity.

Doctor (somewhat disconcerted): I confess I am beaten. Now give me the dust of your feet. (To Vivekananda) This matter apart, I must admit the acuteness of Girish's intellectual powers.

Vivekananda (to the Doctor): You may view the question in another way. You sometimes devote your life to the task of making a scientific discovery, and then you do not look to your body, your health or anything. Now the knowledge of God is the grandest of all sciences; is it not natural that the Bhagavan has risked His health for this end, and, it may be, sacrificed it? We offer to Him worship equal to Divine worship.

The doctor then saluted the Bhagavan and took his leave. At that moment Bijoy entered and prostrated himself at the feet of Sri Ramakrishna.

[paragraph continues] He had been making pilgrimages to various holy places, and Mahima said to him: Sir, you have just returned from a pilgrimage; you have seen many things, kindly tell us about them.

[Pilgrimage useless.] Bijoy: What shall I say? I see now that here I find everything. To go on pilgrimages is useless travelling. There are some places where you will find one-sixteenth, or at the utmost one-fourth, of what you see here. In the Bhagavan I find everything in full complement. I have not found anyone who possesses anything more than our Bhagavan.

Ramakrishna (to Vivekananda): Look what a wonderful change has taken place in Bijoy. His character has become entirely different, as if the milk has been boiled and thickened. By seeing the neck and forehead I can recognize the state of Paramahamsa.

Mahima (to Bijoy): Sir, you take very little food, do you not?

Bijoy: Yes, I believe I do. (To Ramakrishna) Revered Sir, hearing of Thy illness I have come to see Thee.

Ramakrishna: What?

Bijoy kept silent for a while and then said,