The desire to acquire wealth and multiply it is a universal phenomenon. Rare is the person who bucks the trend and become munificent enough to give away his hard-earned possessions. In most such cases, however, an element of ego creeps in with the feeling, "I am giving away my precious wealth."
Shambhu Charan Mallik was, perhaps, in this predicament, but his close association with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa helped him to cleanse himself of this vain thought and attain God-realization.
As he became more and more acquainted with the Master, Shambu began addressing him as 'Guruji'. Sri Ramakrishna disliked the terms guru, master and father. "These three words prick my flesh," he would say often. "There is only one Guru, and that is Satchidananda. He alone is the Teacher." Annoyed, the Master would say, "Who is the guru and who is the disciple? You are my guru." Nevertheless, Shambhu continued to address him as guru all his life.
As part of his public service, Shambhu had a charitable dispensary in his garden house. One day during his talks with Sri Ramakrishna he found out that the Master often suffered from stomach trouble caused by irregular food and impure water. Shambhu advised him to take tiny doses of opium every day, and offered to give him a small quantity from the dispensary. As they kept talking both of them forgot about this matter.
When Sri Ramakrishna was about to return to the temple, he remembered this. The Master came back, but found Shambhu busy inside the house. So he mentioned this to the supervisor of the dispensary who gave him some opium. But as he began to walk back to the temple, he was reeling and could not find his way. He felt as if somebody was pulling at his legs. He said to himself, "What is this? This is by no means the road." When he turned and walked towards Shambhu's house, he felt quite all right. He came to the conclusion that since he obtained the opium from the supervisor, rather than from Shambhu himself, was he committing a theft. He surmised that the Divine Mother was preventing him from returning to Dakshineswar. Thus reasoning, he came back to the dispensary, but found that the supervisor had already left. He threw the packet of opium into the dispensary through the window, uttering in a loud voice, "Hello, here's your opium." He started towards the temple and found his way clear.
Recalling the incident the Master later told his disciples, "Have I not completely taken refuge in the Mother? That is why Mother has taken hold of my hand. She prevented me from a single wrong step."
Shambhu's philanthropic inclinations were legendary. One day he told Sri Ramakrishna. "So bless me, Sir, that I may spend all my money for good purposes such as building hospitals and dispensaries, making roads, and digging wells." The Master replied, "You think too highly of yourself. What power do you wield to do benefit to others? He who has created human beings also shoulders the burden of protecting them. You know everything, what shall I tell you? Do not desire the path of work, instead adopt the path of devotion. Put your mind on that work which will help you realize God. Faith and belief are the means to reach God. The first and foremost duty is to have the vision of the Lord, the Supreme. Afterwards, if you still feel inclined to work, just proceed."
On yet another occasion he told Shambhu, "Those are riches to you. What riches can you offer God? To Him these are mere dust and straw." These somewhat unsympathetic remarks, in no way, were meant to discourage social service as desired by Shambhu. The Master was making it clear that social service, per se, without spiritual dedication would only inflate one's ego and impede progress towards God-realization. With the good of Shambhu very much in his mind, the Master was charting out the right path for him which Shambhu accepted with gratification.
