A Fine Swami Indeed !

You probably know the difference between sannyasis and brahmacharis. The former have taken vows to live the life of a monk to the end. The latter, the brahmacharis, are living a monk's life as a tryout --to see if they can sustain that good intention.
These incidents took place in one of our Indian ashramas. In it there were three or four brahmacharis. One of them, Brahmachari Sookdeb, used to serve his teacher in many ways. He would clean and dust the Swami's room, watch over his food arrangements and his clothing and of course make up his bed.
One day while changing the bed sheets Sookdeb saw something drop to the floor from under the mattress. Picking it up, he discovered it was the Swami's diary. Though he had not intended to read it, he could not help seeing his own name written there on the page which had fallen open. He looked at the date: it was some days ahead of that day. And what was written there? "Today I must scold Sookdeb."
He was astonished to learn that the Swami planned in advance to scold a monk for things he hadn't even done yet! Occasionally the junior monks would be scolded to correct their defects, to polish off any sharp corners and evidences of ego. But this was something unheard of.

This Swami had a rather long name --Swami Adinathananda-- and he was a disciple of Holy Mother; his work was building up schools for the Ramakrishna Mission. He knew that his scoldings would help the monks to drop their false egos, so he would plan in advance whom and when to scold. There was no hard feeling behind his criticisms. Although for the Swami it was a kind of playacting, the brahmacharis took it seriously and tried to obey, because they could feel how much he cared about them and loved them. The scoldings were a kind of mask for Swami Adinathananda's love and goodwill.

Another junior monk was cashier for the ashrama. He had the unusual name of Brahmachari Ugappa. Now at different times of the year the Indian government would send checks in the grant for the running of schools. This center had eleven fine schools in the city. One day a check for a large amount arrived on a Saturday afternoon after the bank was closed. Swami Adi-nathananda was anxious to have such a large check recorded as soon as possible. On Sunday morning he told Ugappa, "Go to the bank and deposit this check."
Brahmacharis are smart lads and sometimes they think they are bit wiser than their teachers. So Ugappa reminded the Swami that it was Sunday and the bank was closed, so it would be impossible to deposit the check.
"You are saying it is impossible, but you have not even tried to deposit it. First go and try, and then come and tell me about it." The custom in the Ramakrishna Order is to obey first, ask questions afterwards. The brahmachari knew that the bank director was a longtime good friend of the Swami, and he also knew where he lived. He went to the director's home and explained the situation. The officer thought for a moment, then said, "Let's go over to the bank and I'll see what can be done."
Unlocking the front door, he entered and taking the check from Ugappa, deposited it in the ashrama's account.
When he returned to the ashrama, the Swami said, "Now you've learned that if we try, oftentimes what seems impossible can become possible."