Ramakrishna recognized Tarak as one of his inner circle. Later Tarak reminisced:
One day Sri Ramakrishna said: “Well, so many people come here. I seldom ask anyone about his home and family, or desire to know anything about these things. But when I first met you I felt that you belonged here, that I would like to know the particulars of your home, parents, and the like. Can you tell me why? Where is your home and what is your father’s name?” In reply I told him I came from Barasat and my father’s name was Ramkanai Ghosal.
Hearing this, the Master said: “Indeed! You are Ramkanai Ghosal’s son! Now I understand why the Mother aroused this desire in me for information about your home. I know your father very well. He is the attorney for Rani Rasmani’s estate. The Rani and her family always thought highly of your father, and whenever he would visit the garden at Dakshineswar, they would do everything to make him comfortable, carefully arranging his accommodation, meals, servants, and the like. He is certainly a highly developed sadhaka [spiritual aspirant].
“[In the early days — 1850s] whenever he came here, he would take his bath in the Ganges, put on a red silk garment, and enter the Mother’s temple. He looked like a veritable Bhairava [celestial attendant of Shiva]. He was tall, stout, and fair-complexioned, and his chest was always red. He meditated for long periods in the Mother’s temple. And he used to bring with him a musician who would sit behind him singing songs symbolically describing the nerve centres in the human body, as well as songs about Mother Kali. Your father would be absorbed in meditation, with tears streaming down his cheeks. When he left the temple after meditation his face would be flushed with spiritual emotion and nobody would dare approach him.
“At that time I was suffering from an unbearable burning sensation all over my body. When I met your father, I said: ‘Well, you are a devotee of the Mother and so am I. I also practise meditation, but can you tell me why I feel a burning sensation all over my body? Look, the burning sensation is so intense that the hairs of my body have been singed. It is sometimes excruciating!’ Your father recommended that I wear an amulet bearing the name of my Chosen Deity. Strange as it may seem, with the wearing of this amulet, the burning sensation at once diminished. Would you ask your father to visit me sometime?”
In those days I was living in Calcutta, going home only occasionally. My father was very pleased when I told him about Sri Ramakrishna, and he came one day to see the Master. On another occasion the Master said: “Your father’s spiritual practices were attended with some desire for worldly objects. As a result of his spiritual practices, he amassed much wealth and also spent it nobly.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
The Master would not readily allow me to render personal service to him. This often pained me very much. Then, from an incident that happened one day, I learned why he was so unwilling. Who, indeed, can understand his motives? On that day I stayed at Dakshineswar. Other devotees were there also. After spending a long time in his room talking about religious matters, he got up and proceeded towards the pine grove to answer the call of nature. Usually one of the devotees would follow him on such occasions with his water pot to pour water on his hands, as he could not touch anything metal. When he went to the pine grove that day, I carried the water pot and waited at the proper place for his return. On his way back, when he found me standing there with the water pot, he said: “Now, look here. Why did you do such a thing? Why did you come with the water pot? How can I accept water from your hand? Can I accept service from you? I honour your father as a guru.” I was struck with wonder. Only then did I realize why he would not allow me to render service to him. The Master had infinite moods. How could we fathom them? We can understand only that which he allows us to understand. (Source: God Lived with Them)