"As Ramakrishna approached Benares in a boat, crossing the Ganges, he saw in a vision that the city was made of gold; that is to say, he saw that the subtle form of the city had been made golden by the love and faith of its innumerable devotees throughout the ages. Ramakrishna had such a strong sense of the sacredness of Benares that he was even careful not to relieve himself within its limits. Nevertheless, he was disappointed. 'I had expected,' he said later, 'to find everybody in Benares merged in Samadhi, contemplating Shiva twenty-four hours a day; and everybody in Vrindavan wild with joy in the company of Krishna. But, when I got to those places, I found it all different.'