Baburam used to give personal service to the Master, such as sweeping the floor, making his bed, and preparing tobacco and betel-rolls. He used to rub the Master’s body with oil before his bath, and would fan him when necessary. Baburam would accompany Ramakrishna whenever he visited the devotees’ houses or theatres in Calcutta. One day at Balaram’s house in Calcutta, Baburam was pouring water for the Master to wash his hands. Downstairs a few schoolgirls were playing. The Master watched a girl swirling a bunch of keys tied in the corner of her sari (cloth). Pointing to that girl, the Master said to Baburam: “Look, girls tie boys like that bunch of keys and spin them around. Likewise do you want to move around in their hands?”
Baburam realized that the Master was instructing him to be free from the temptation of women. Bhartrihari said in his Vairagyashatakam (One Hundred Verses on Renunciation): “Everything is fraught with fear in this world, renunciation alone makes one fearless.” Sri Ramakrishna advised his young monastic disciples to renounce both externally and internally; he advised his householder disciples to renounce internally. Many years later Baburam related how the Master taught the monastic disciples: “Very little of the Master’s teachings is recorded in the Gospel. M. used to visit the Master occasionally and would note down his teachings as he heard them… . His teachings to the monastic disciples were given in private. As soon as the householder devotees would leave the room, he would get up and lock the door and then speak to us living words of renunciation. He would try to impress upon our young minds the emptiness and vanity of worldly enjoyments.”