On 14 July 1885 Harinath met Sri Ramakrishna at Balaram’s house in Calcutta. The Master said to him: “You see, in one form He is the Absolute and in another He is the Relative. What does Vedanta teach? Brahman alone is real and the world is illusory. Isn’t that so? But as long as God keeps the ‘ego of a devotee’ in a man, the Relative is also real. When He completely effaces the ego, then what is remains. That cannot be described by the tongue… . As long as a man analyses with the mind, he cannot reach the Absolute. Atman cannot be realized through this mind; Atman is realized through Atman alone. Pure mind, Pure Buddhi, Pure Atman — all these are one and the same.
“Just think how many things you need to perceive an object. You need eyes; you need light; you need mind. You cannot perceive the object if you leave out any one of these three. As long as the mind functions, how can you say that the universe and the ‘I’ do not exist? When the mind is annihilated, when it stops deliberating pro and con, then one goes into samadhi, one attains the knowledge of Brahman.” Thus the Master taught Harinath the intricate aspects of Vedanta.