One day Vijaykrishna Goswami, a religious leader and devotee, came to Cossipore to see Sri Ramakrishna. While there he spoke highly of a great hatha yogi whom he had met in a cave of the Barabar Hills in Gaya. Having heard about the yogi, Kali desperately wanted to see him. He collected his train fare, and without telling anybody, left for Gaya. From the Gaya Station he walked eight miles and reached a village at the foot of Barabar Hills, where he passed the night in an inn meant for pilgrims. There he met a monk of the Dashnami-Puri sect and copied from his note-book the monastic vows of Shankara’s order (viraja-homa mantras including the preshmantram [a special mantram], math [monastery], madi [sect], and yogapatta [name]).
The next morning Kali got directions to the yogi’s cave, but the villagers warned him not to go to the hatha yogi because his disciples threw stones at anyone who tried to go there. But Kali was adamant about meeting the yogi, so he took a back route through the jungle and began to climb. At last he suddenly appeared at the entrance of the cave where the yogi was seated with his disciples in front of a dhuni fire. The disciples were about to attack Kali, but he quickly bowed down to them, saying, “Om namo Narayanaya.” Since Kali wore a monk’s ochre robe, they also saluted him. They asked him questions and learned that he knew the sannyasa mantras. It was divine providence that he had learned these mantras at the pilgrim’s inn just the previous night.
Kali asked the yogi to teach him hatha yoga, pranayama, and other yoga techniques. But after interviewing him, Kali realized that he was not a perfected yogi. He knew only a few techniques of pranayama that had been mentioned in Pavana Swarodaya (a book on breathing exercises). Moreover, Kali noticed that one of the yogi’s disciples was suffering from asthma. At that moment the compassionate form of Sri Ramakrishna appeared in his mind, and he realized that he had made a great mistake. Kali was now trapped: He wanted to leave but the yogi did not approve, and he was afraid to run away because the disciples might kill him. In the afternoon Kali pretended that he was going to bring water from outside the cave, and then began to run down the hill. The disciples started to throw stones at him, but fortunately he reached the village without injury. The next morning he took a train back to Cossipore. When Kali told Ramakrishna about his adventure, instead of becoming angry, he smiled and blessed him. At this, Kali realized the greatness of his guru. (Source: God Lived with Them)