True devotee will shun all passions

Many sincere Sadhakas (spiritual aspirants) would come to Sri Ramakrishna and seek his advice on how to get rid of passions such as lust, anger, greed, hatred, delusion, etc. Sri Ramakrishna whose heart would overflow with compassion for struggling souls would advise them using a beautiful analogy. A huge ship was sailing in the deep waters of ocean. It had a strong and sturdy body built with very good materials such as seasoned wood, etc and using a large number of screws and nails. Even as it was sailing, the ship happened to go into the proximity of a huge magnetic hill. All of a sudden the tightly fastened screws and nails in the ship’s hull became loosened and some even began to fall out. In the same way, Sri Ramakrishna would explain that when a Sadhaka realizes God or the Ultimate Truth, passions like lust, anger, greed, hatred, delusion, etc drop off by themselves. Even if there are traces of such passions, they will lose their ability to sting or harm anyone. In fact, Sri Ramakrishna sometimes even used another example to explain this idea when he would say that if a serpent’s head is showered with dust, it immediately becomes quiet and can no longer bring out the venom from its body. As long as the human body remains, it has to retain some of its characteristics, but such a person would never succumb to the pulls of passions.  Again to quote Sri Ramakrishna, a burnt seed can no longer sprout. Of course, in very advanced or intense states of God realization or God consciousness, the body itself might drop off leading to death. Such is the liberating power of God realization. So, a Sadhaka should not feel too disturbed or bothered about the distractions caused by the six passions. He should continue with his Sadhana with tremendous sincerity and perseverance, depending on God. Ultimately, he is sure to succeed.
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