As the mother bird protects her fledglings, so the Master guarded his young disciples from various evil influences. One day at Dakshineswar the Master said to Baburam: “I can’t touch you today. Did you do anything wrong?” “No, sir.” “Then why can’t I touch you?” After a while Baburam remembered that in the morning while chatting with his friend he had said something which was not true. He confessed it to the Master. Baburam realized that Sri Ramakrishna’s life was established in truth, and that truthfulness is the key to God-realization. (Source: God Lived with Them)
In the middle of 1885 Sri Ramakrishna developed throat cancer, and began to withdraw his divine play from Dakshineswar. His feet also began to swell, and Dr. Mahendranath Pal advised the Master to drink some lemon juice every day. Jogin took the responsibility of supplying fresh lemons from their family garden. The Master took the juice regularly, but one day he could not drink it. Jogin wondered why. Later after investigation he learned that their lemon grove had been leased to a party on that very day and they had lost ownership. As a result, the Master could not drink the lemon juice that Jogin brought without informing the owner, as that would have been considered theft. The disciples were amazed to see how the Master’s body and mind were established in truth. (Source: God Lived with Them)
Another day the Master said to a devotee (pointing to Niranjan): “Look at this boy. He is absolutely guileless. But he has one fault: he is slightly untruthful nowadays. The other day he said that he would visit me again very soon, but he didn’t come.” Hearing this, Niranjan immediately apologized.
Subodhananda was a moderate eater. Once a devotee invited him to dine and he asked about the menu. The devotee humbly said: “What could we offer you, swami? We have arranged simple food — rice and lentils.” Subodhananda went to the dining room and found that the devotee was actually serving various delicacies, but he ate only rice and lentils. In spite of the devotee’s fervent request, he did not change his mind. The swami said to him, “The Master taught us that one should hold to the truth and keep his word.”