One day a celibate pandit came to meet the Guru. He came and greeted the Guru. At that time, the Guru was having food. Then the Guru said: O pandit, come and have food. Pandit: I do not eat this food. I dig the earth by a few centimeters, then I wash the floor, and the logs of wood. Then only I cook food and eat.
The Guru said: All right. You may dig the earth wherever you like and cook the food. We shall give you the groceries.
The pandit took the groceries outside and started digging the earth. Wherever he dug up, he found bones lying there. At the end, he got tired and came in and said: O Guru, I shall have the food that you will give. I am so hungry.
Guru: O pandit, the time when I asked you to have food is gone. But you say O Lord, and go and dig earth again.
Now, he was able to dig out a clean place and he cooked his food and ate.
When he finished having food, he came to talk to the Guru again.
Then the Guru said: O pandit, your thoughts regarding cleanliness, purity and sacredness have gone beyond the real meanings, into superstitions and mistaken beliefs. Even if you make it so sacred that you make a kitchen of gold, get water from river Ganga and cook the best rice and fresh milk and become an intellectual by reading Vedic scriptures, visit all pilgrim centers, keep fasts on all auspicious days, whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or a family man or a recluse, nothing matters much. The real thing is the deeds. So, you have to do good deeds. Whatever practices you have adopted, thinking them to be as religiousness, they are actually superstitions and mistaken beliefs. You are trapped in these. You rise above these superstitions and mistaken
beliefs and come to good deeds. Do good to others. This is for the body. For the mind, it is to recite the Lord's name with love. Your mind that is nowwandering in animal instincts will turn towards the Lord. This is the prime worship. No other worship is worthwhile.
When you get immersed in the love of the Lord, then only, you will get true happiness. Nothing else will give true happiness.
The Guru blessed him with the Lord's Name and put him on the true path of 'recitation of the Lord's Name with love'.
The Brahmin remained pious but he got rid of superstitions and mistaken beliefs. He became steadfast in recitation of the Lord's Name. The Name settled in his mind, heart and body cells and he was filled with ecstasy.
O D O O