Sri Ramakrishna walked across the paddy-fields in the vicinity of the Dakshineswar Temple. A few disciples were with him. To them he spoke of the Life of the Spirit. And as they listened to him, they said, “Never have we heard a man speak as he speaketh to us!” And one of the disciples said, “Master, for many years have I worshipped God and called out to Him with tears in my eyes. And I have lived a pure life. And I have served friends and strangers to the best of my ability. But God seems to me as remote as ever. And now the thought comes to me that the time I have given to my devotions is time wasted. And I say to myself, not this the life for me!”
The Master smiled.
Then, pointing towards the tillers of the soil working in nearby fields, he said, “Two classes of farmers there be. There are those who are farmers by birth; their ancestors, like them, were farmers. And they keep on tilling the soil even though it does not rain for years together and they harvest no crop. Come famine, come floods, they despair not! They do not desert their fields. “But there is another type of farmer. He takes to agriculture with the sole purpose of making profits. And such as he is disheartened by a single season of drought.” The Master continued, “The true devotee of God never gives up his devotions. He keeps on repeating the Name of God, he keeps on singing the glories of the Beloved, he keeps on shedding unbounded tears, even though he is not once blessed with the vision of God!”
