Page:Ramakrishna - His Life and Sayings.djvu/144

126 and told him, * Well, sir, come to-morrow, I shall see what I can do for you/ Then going in, this typical family-man told his wife, who was the manager of all his affairs, he being unconcerned, 'Look here, dear, a poor Brihma#a is in great difficulty, and wants something of me. I have made up my mind to give him a rupee. What is your opinion about it?' 'Aha! what a generous fellow you areP she replied, in great excitement at the name of a rupee. 'Rupees are not, like leaves or stones, to be thrown away without any thought/ 'Well, dear/ replied the hus- band, in an apologising tone, 'the man is very poor and we should not give him less than a rupee.' 'No 1' replied the wife, ' I cannot spare that much; here is a two-anna-bit and you can give him that^ if you like.' The man of course had no other alternative, being himself unconcerned in all such worldly matters, and he took what his wife gave him. Next day the beggar came, and received only a two-anna-bit. Such uncontaminated family-men are really henpecked persons who are solely guided by their wives, and as such are very poor specimens of humanity.

121. Seeing the water pass glittering through the net of bamboo frame-work 1, the small fry enter into it with great pleasure, and having once entered they cannot get out again and are caught Similarly, foolish men enter into the world allured by its false glitter, but as it is easier to enter the net than to get out of it, it is easier to enter the world than renounce it, after having once entered it

1 A trap for catching gtr>%V| ffehi