The Master also had other followers who were living under his orders. There was no spiritual practice of any sort in the ashram and the sanyasi thought all the others there were useless, as he did not observe them doing anything "spiritual." Some were cooking, some were washing, some were cleaning and thus, according to the words of the Master, keeping themselves busy.
Although now living with the Perfect Master, the ascetic had continued his spiritual practices. One day he asked the Master, "When will I see God?"
The Master replied, "If you act according to my orders, you will gain the sight of God very soon." The sanyasi nodded in accord. The Master, picking up a small piece of stone, then told him, "Go to the market and, in exchange for this, bring five seers [a weight measurement] of vegetables."
Looking at the stone, the ascetic replied, "Maharaj, this is a stone. Who will give five seers of vegetables in exchange for it? No one will touch it."
The Master said, "You have promised to obey me and now you are arguing! Do as I say and you will have God's darshan!"
The sanyasi went to the market, but no vendor was ready to agree to the bargain, and all laughed in derision. With great difficulty, one agreed to give him two seers of vegetables. Refusing, the aspirant returned and said to the Master, "Maharaj, I had told you from the beginning the exchange was foolhardy. Who would give five seers of vegetables for a stone? I could get nothing."
The Sadguru said, "Now go to a sweetmeat shop and bring five seers of sweets for this piece of stone." The recluse left thinking his Master deranged. No one was willing to give five seers of sweets and the most he could argue for in one shop was three seers. So he returned, again empty-handed.
The Sadguru then directed him to approach a goldsmith and bade him to bring back not less than Rs.5,000 in exchange! Now the ascetic was convinced the Master was completely crazy, but he went anyway. The goldsmith examined the rock and announced that he was ready to pay Rs.1,000. This surprised the sanyasi as now he was being offered Rs.1,000 in exchange for a stone against which previously he could not even get five seers of vegetables.