Sheikh Fareed was an accomplished saint. He used to say that anyone whosoever enjoins his total energies and strengths with God, he will be blessed with the love of the Master of the World. He secures the acceptance of God. A person standing nearby was listening to what was being said by Sheikh Fareed. But he doubted the statement. Sheikh Fareed explained the thought to him again and tried to convince him. He came across the Sheikh again one day on the way. He told him that he wanted to get to God and requested for suggesting a short-cut. Sheikh Fareed told him, “You better concentrate all your energies in God and you will get God.”

After having said this Sheikh Fareed went to the river and entered the water to take his bath. The man sat on the bank of the river waiting for the Sheikh. He told the Sheikh, “Please tell me again and some more while you take your bath.” Sheikh Fareed invited him to come in the water and take his bath. When he entered the water and got closer to Sheikh Fareed, Fareed caught hold of him and pushed him down in the water and sat on his back. That man got astonished and with his full power threw Sheikh off his body and quickly came out of the water. He told Sheikh, “I had come to you to show me the way to get to God but you have tried to kill me by drowning me – what kind of a saint are you?”

Fareed caught hold of him at once. The man was astonished. Fareed told him, “Don’t worry. I will not drown you. I will only teach you how to swim. And now listen to me carefully. When I was pushing you down in the water, what were you thinking then?” The main replied, “Only to save my life.” “So what have you done that time?” The man said, “There is nothing special about it. To save his life man puts all his energies and efforts to save himself. I have also used all my powers and energies to save myself.” Sheikh Fareed said, “So is the case. Employ all your energies and efforts to get to God. You surely will get Him, and this is for sure. You have embedded the world in your life, you claim the relatives, brothers, houses, shops, wife to be your life. You have not embedded God in your life. If you had embedded God in your life you would have attained God already by now.”

This was indeed an excellent way how the Gurus of olden days used to educate people. It has nowadays become very difficult to impart knowledge this way to the people. If you develop the qualities to do any work with full energies and get associated with the divine feet of God, then the blessings of God will shower on you. While moving towards God, the darkness starts to disappear. The knowledge will begin to emerge in the minds by itself. If one begins to distribute knowledge, it will never finish. It emerges from within like a spring sprouting from nowhere and it never exhausts.