The Master noticed that various entanglements were hovering over Rakhal. His relatives and friends were insisting that he take a job and lead a regular householder’s life. On 1 March 1885 the Master said to Manomohan, Rakhal’s brother-in-law: “You may take offence at my words, but I said to Rakhal, ‘I would rather hear that you had drowned yourself in the Ganges than learn that you had accepted a job under another person and become his servant.’” (Source: God Lived with Them)
At one time Niranjan was compelled to accept a job with an indigo planter at Murshidabad, more than a hundred miles north of Calcutta. Ramakrishna was aggrieved when he heard of this and remarked, “I would not have been more pained had I heard of his death.” A few days later, when he saw Niranjan, he learned that he had to accept the job to maintain his aged mother. With a sigh of relief, the Master told Niranjan: “Ah, then it is all right. It won’t contaminate your mind. But I tell you, if you had done so for your own sake, I could not have touched you. Really, it was unthinkable that you would stoop to so much humiliation. Didn’t I know that my Niranjan had not the least trace of impurity in him?”
Upon hearing this remark, a member of the audience questioned the Master: “Sir, you are condemning service; but how can we maintain our families without earning money?” The Master replied: “Let him who likes do so. I don’t forbid everyone. I say this only to these young aspirants [pointing to Niranjan and others] who form a class by themselves.” Ramakrishna did not want his intimate disciples to become slaves of lust and gold. (Source: God Lived with Them)
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- Thus, I have explained to you this knowledge that is more secret than all secrets. Ponder over it deeply, and then do as you wish. (BG 18.63)