Sri Ramakrishna used to say that it is not possible for ordinary mortals to comprehend the one, indivisible Satchidananda. He used to say that only 12 Rishis could recognize Sri Rama as the incarnation of God. To illustrate this point he used to narrate a very interesting parable.
A rich man once gave a diamond to his servant and asked him to go to the market to find out the price offered by different people. The servant took the diamond to an eggplant seller. The latter examined it from all sides and said, “Brother, I can give 5 kgs of eggplant for it”. When the servant bargained and asked the eggplant seller to offer a little more, the latter replied that he had already quoted above the market price and cannot offer anything more. Then the servant went and approached a cloth merchant and offered to sell the diamond and asked how much he would offer for it. The cloth merchant replied that it was a very nice diamond and an ornament could be made out of it. He offered Rs. 1,000/- as the price for the diamond. But, the servant bargained and wanted a little more. The cloth dealer flatly refused saying that he had already offered above the market price and was not in a position to offer even a rupee more than Rs. 1,000/-. Then the servant went to a jeweler. The jeweler glanced at the diamond and said at once that he would give Rupees One Hundred Thousand as the price.
One offers price for an article according to one’s capital. In the same way, one who has acquired spiritual capital out of intense sadhana, alone can recognize God. Most of the others take him to be an ordinary person. A few take him to be a holy person and only the rarest of the rare recognize him as an incarnation of God.