Sometimes when people begin to practise religion, they become so kindhearted that their kindness becomes an obstacle and can even drag them down from the spiritual path. Ramakrishna would instruct such softhearted people to be firm and resolved. One day the Master saw a cockroach in a chest that he used for his clothes. He asked Jogin to take it outside and kill it. But Jogin took it outside the room and let it go. As soon as he returned, the Master asked, “Have you killed it?” “No, sir, I let it go,” replied Jogin. Thereupon the Master rebuked him, saying: “I told you to kill the cockroach, but you let it go. You should always do as I ask you to do. Otherwise, later in more serious matters also you will follow your own judgment and come to grief.”