"Can you give me some wine," asked the man shamelessly to the Paramahamsa in the temple of Dakshineswar. It was surely a most insulting request to make to a holy man in a holy place. But strangely the Paramahamsa was not angered or displeased. His Mother Kali had sent one more player to the game. He glanced at the tall, well-built person of brown complexion, with large eyes and confident look and smiled. Here was one given to enjoy the pleasures of the world to the fullest. He replied: "Yes, I can give you some wine. But the wine I have is so intoxicating that you may not be able to bear it." "Grand. Is it real British wine? Let me have some to wet my throat." "No, it is not British wine. It is completely home made. If a person tastes this wine even once, all other drinks will be tasteless for ever. But not everyone can stand it. Are you ready for such a wine?" The man hesitated for a while, then replied, "Give me that wine which will make me intoxicated the whole of my life." The Paramahamsa touched him and the man started to weep and kept on weeping in spite of attempts by others to calm him. Thus began an extraordinary relationship between Kalipada Ghosh, worldly, passionate and given to enjoyment and Sri Ramakrishna, godly, austere, and prone to ecstasy at the merest hint of divine inspiration.
