Commonplace: Polishing
The “naked one” kept near him a water-pot and a pair of long tongs only. He had a piece of skin to sit cross-legged on and always kept his body covered with a thick wrapper. He polished daily the water-pot and the tongs and kept them glittering. Seeing him practise meditation every day the Master one day asked him direct, “You have realized Brahman and become perfect; why do you then practise meditation daily?” At this he looked at the Master calmly and pointing with his finger to the water-pot, said, “Don’t you see how bright it looks? But what will happen if I don’t polish it daily? Will it not lose its lustre? Know that the mind also is like that. The mind also accumulates dirt if it be not polished daily by the practice of meditation.” Possessed of a keen insight, the Master accepted the opinion of his ‘naked’ teacher and said, “But if the water-pot be one of gold? It will then not surely become dirty even if it be not polished every day.” Tota smiled and assented, saying, “O yes, it is true indeed.” The Master remembered all his life the words of the “naked one” regarding the utility of the practice of daily meditation; he quoted him to us on many occasions. And it is our impression that the words of the Master viz., “a gold water-pot never becomes dirty”, were also imprinted for ever in Tota’s mind. He was convinced that the mind of the Master was indeed bright like a gold water-pot. It was from the very beginning that this kind of interchange of ideas between the teacher and the disciple used to take place.
Swami Sahadananda, Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master (Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1952), 476.
