ONCE there came to Dakshineswar two sadhus who were father and son. The son had attained true knowledge, but the father had not. Both were sitting in the room where Sri Ramakrishna lived and were talking with him. In the meantime, a young cobra came out of a rat-hole and bit the son. Seeing that, the father was terribly frightened and began to call all the people around.
But the son sat quiet, and that puzzled the father still more. When he asked the son why he was sitting quiet, the son laughed and was heard to explain. “Which is the snake and whom has it bitten?” He had realised the Unity, and hence he could not make any distinction between a man and a snake. (154)