“If a man gathers his whole mind and fixes it on me, then, indeed, he achieves everything. But what am I? It is all he. I am the machine and He is its operator. It is God alone who exists in this (meaning his body). That is why so many people are feeling more and more attracted to it. A mere touch is enough to awaken their spirituality. This attraction, this pull, is the attraction of God and of none else.”
( p.798, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna to M. on 13th July1885)
It was winter when the Master arrived at the Cossipore Garden House. Once, in the middle of a cold night, Shashi left the Master’s room to clean the commode; he wore only a thin cloth. On his return, he saw that Sri Ramakrishna, who was very sick, had somehow crawled across the room and was reaching up for a shawl that was haging on a clotheshorse. At this painful sight Shashi thought to himself: Alas! In my hurry, I forgot to cover him sufficiently, so perhaps he is cold and is trying to get a shawl. “What are you doing, sir?” Shashi asked him in a scolding tone. “The air is very chilly, and you should not be up. Why did you not ask me for the shawl?” Filled with love and concern, the Master held out his shawl, and then said in a feeble voice:”I felt cold as you went out almost bare-bodied on such a cold night, so I picked up this shawl for you. Please take this.” Shashi was overwhelmed.
(p.271, God lived with Them; Shashi Maharaj, i.e. Swami Ramaskrishnananda was born on 13th July 1893)