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複次，長老畢陵伽婆磋常患眼痛，是人乞食，常渡恆水，到恆水邊彈指言：小婢住莫流！水即兩斷，得過乞食。是恆神到佛所白佛：佛弟子畢陵伽婆磋，常罵我言：小婢住莫流！
佛言：畢陵伽婆磋懺謝恆神！畢陵伽婆磋即時合手語恆神言：小婢莫瞋！今懺謝汝！是時，大眾笑之，云何懺謝而復罵耶？
佛語恆神：汝見畢陵伽婆磋合手懺謝不？懺謝無慢而有此言，當知非惡。此人五百世來，常生婆羅門家，常自憍貴，輕賤餘人，本來所習，口言而已，心無憍也。
如是諸阿羅漢雖斷結使，猶如餘氣。
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The Venerable Pilindavatsa was constantly afflicted with eye pain. In the course of his regular rounds begging for food, this personage always forded the River Ganges. Upon reaching the shore of the Ganges he would snap his fingers and call out, "Little slave! Stop! Don't flow!" The waters would then part and he would be free to cross and beg for food. This Ganges River spirit went to where the Buddha dwelt and addressed the Buddha, complaining, "The Buddha's disciple, Pilindavatsa, is forever insulting me, saying, 'Little slave! Stop! Don't flow!'"
The Buddha instructed Pilindavatsa to apologize to the Ganges spirit. Pilindavatsa immediately pressed his palms together and said to the Ganges spirit, "Little slave, don't be angry. I now apologize to you." At this moment, the Great Assembly laughed at this, exclaiming, "How can you apologize to her, and yet proceed to insult her once again even while doing so?!"
The Buddha said to the Ganges spirit, "As you look at Pilindavatsa, is he pressing his palms together and apologizing or not? He is apologizing without any arrogance and yet he still speaks this way. You should understand that this is not deliberate insolence. For the last five hundred lifetimes this man has repeatedly been reborn into Brahman households and thus has always been haughty and esteemed himself while slighting and demeaning others. This is just the manner of speaking which he originally practiced, that's all. In his mind there is no haughtiness."
In just this way, although the Arhats have cut off the fetters, they still retain residual traces of them.
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