Three Croaks...

"One day as I was passing the Panchavati on my way to the pine-
grove, I heard a bullfrog croaking. I thought it must have been
seized by a snake. After some time, as I was coming back, I could
still hear its terrified croaking. I looked to see what was the
matter, and found that a water-snake had seized it. The snake could
neither swallow it nor give it up. So there was no end to the frog's
suffering. I thought that had it been seized by a cobra it would
have been silenced after three croaks at the most. As it was only a
water-snake, both of them had to go through this agony. A man's ego
is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the
clutches of a real teacher. But if the teacher is an 'unripe' one,
then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering.
The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of
the world. If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent
teacher, he doesn't attain liberation." - Sri Ramakrishna