One incident in particular reveals Latu’s direct and uncompromising approach to spiritual life. He fell sound asleep early one evening at Dakshineswar. Ramakrishna noticed his disciple sleeping and not only woke him, but rebuked him sharply: “If you sleep in the evening, when will you meditate? You should meditate so deeply that the night passes unnoticed. Instead, your eyelids are heavy with sleep at this auspicious time. Did you come here only to sleep?”
That was enough. The Master’s scolding caused a veritable upheaval in Latu’s mind. In his own words: “How can I express the deep sorrow that seized me at the Master’s words! ‘What a wretch I am,’ I said to myself, ‘that having the rare blessing of such holy company, I should be wasting my time.’ I started to whip my mind. Mercilessly, I splashed water on my eyes and began to walk briskly along the bank of the Ganges. When my body became overheated, I returned and sat near him. Again I dozed, and again I went out for a walk. Thus I fought the whole night. The struggle continued the next night also. It was a terrible fight. Sleep would overcome my eyes during the day, but I did not give up. The battle went on day and night. Finally, night sleep came under control, but not day sleep.”
After two years of struggle, Latu conquered sleep and never again slept at night. Swami Saradananda wrote: “Latu was invariably seen praying and meditating the whole night and sleeping during the day. His life was a literal example of the teaching of the Gita: ‘In that which is night to all beings, the man of self-control is awake; and where all beings are awake, there is night for the sage who sees (2.69).’”
Ramdas Kathiababa started serving Gurudev and doing sadhna as per his orders. Gurudev tested him very hard from time to time. Once, while roaming around, Guru and disciple reached Himalayas and there Gurudev started living in a hut and Ramdasji sat in an open place and started doing bhajan-sadhna. It would snow from evening to morning. So, he lit a fire in front of him and did bhajans as per Guru’s orders all night. He was not allowed to get up from his seat at night. One night, he felt a little lazy for a while, the fire got extinguished due to snow fall and Ramdasji started shivering due to cold. He thought that without lighting the fire, he would have to die of cold. His body was gradually getting colder. He was afraid of Guruji and what he would say. At last, he gathered courage and went and stood quietly outside the hut. Gurudev asked from inside- ‘Who is outside?’ The disciple said- ‘Maharaj, servant Ramdas.’ Later, when Guru asked, he told everything. Gurudev threatened him and said, ‘Son! Have you left your home and made your parents cry just to sleep? Take the fire with you today; but be careful, this should never happen again.’ Saying this, Gurudev threw a burning piece of wood outside. Ramdasji brought it back and lit a fire with it and started doing bhajans.