Purity: selfless oneness with God

Once there lived a pious youth named Nagamuddin who came from a Muslim family. He used to study all day and night. His father died when he was still quite young, and suddenly Nagamuddin had to support his poor mother. He started looking for a job here, there and everywhere, but he did not succeed in getting one.

One day he went to a Muslim priest and begged him to give him a job in any line, although he said he would be very happy if he could also become a priest. The priest said, “I will give you a job, but I can’t make you a priest, for you will far surpass me and every other priest on earth. You have no idea how great you are. One day everybody will come to know of you. Even the Emperor of Delhi will come to you to honour you.”

A burning desire to realise God had long been consuming Nagamuddin. He had been looking for his Guru everywhere. Finally one day he went to a very spiritual man named Phariduddin and said to him, “Please become my Guru. I am tired of searching for a Guru.”

Phariduddin accepted Nagamuddin as his devoted disciple, and Nagamuddin learned to cook so that he could prepare meals for his Master. He enjoyed the Master’s deep affection for him. But the Master and the disciple were very, very poor. Sometimes for days on end they had no food to eat. They spent most of their time praying and meditating and totally neglected the demands of the body.

One day somebody gave Nagamuddin some flour so he could make bread. Nagamuddin did not have money, and he knew that his Master also had no money to buy one of the necessary ingredients to make bread — salt. So he went to the village market and borrowed some salt from a shop. The shopkeeper readily gave him the salt because he knew that Nagamuddin was a spiritual man, and that his Master was very great.

Nagamuddin brought the salt back and made delicious bread for his Master. But when he offered Phariduddin a few pieces of bread, something unusual happened. On other days when he would give something to his Master, the Master would eat it happily and bless Nagamuddin for the food. But that day Phariduddin said, “I shall not eat your food. There is tremendous impurity in it.”

Neither the Master nor the disciple had eaten for three days, but because there was tremendous impurity in the food, the Master would not eat it. Nagamuddin felt miserable. He could not account for it.

Then his Master said, “I can clearly see that you have borrowed salt from a shopkeeper to make this bread. This is indeed a disgraceful act. Never borrow anything from anyone. If you borrow, your consciousness descends and you become impure. The man who gave you the salt is so proud that he has given you something, so he is treasuring impurity. And when you borrow something, you become a victim to worries and anxieties. Worries and anxieties are also a kind of impurity. If you do not have total purity in your system, in every cell of your body, then you will not be able to realise God. So from now on, don’t borrow anything — money or material gifts. Worries and anxieties will assail you and purity will leave you.

“If you have purity, then you have everything. There are two ways to have purity. One is by seeing God inside everyone, consciously and constantly. The other is by imagining God and consciously repeating His Name as many times as possible. My son, if you have purity, you do not have to go to God. God Himself will make you see His infinite Divinity. What God is will be reflected in you. You will be an exact replica of God.

“Purity expedites God’s Hour. Purity embodies God’s Power. If you have purity, then there is nothing that you cannot accomplish. Purity is the harbinger of selfless oneness — Eternity’s perfect, selfless oneness with God.”