An illiterate fellow was living in one of those desert districts of South India called Ramnathpuram - no body of water large enough to be even known.
But he has this craving to reach the ultimate and he asked a saint, "Lord, how can I achieve this?"
He said, "Go north. You will find a river. Bath in it. It is the Ganga. It will purify you and give you redemption."
He walked and he came to a small nali (canal). Now for a man from a desert who has never seen water that was big enough body of water. He started bathing in it.

He had been bathing ten years, when another saint came from north.
He said, "My son, what are you doing here, bathing in this?
He said, "No, the saint told me to bathe in the Ganga, I am bathing, I hope to be purified."
He said, "Stupid fellow, this is not the Ganga. This is only a gutter. Go further north. It is much bigger than this".

He went further. Then he came to a little bigger canal perhaps. He started bathing there. Ten years passed. Another saint came.
He said, "What are you doing here?"
He said, "I am bathing in the Ganga. It is the most pavitra (pure) body of water. I am going to be liberated."
He said, "No, no, this is not the Ganga, go further."

Like this he spent fifty years bathing in different canals, streams, rivers and ultimately he died. And when he went up there he found these five saints who had guided him, or misguided him, as the case may be, coming for judgement to the Lord. To his amazement all of those five saints were sent to hell and he was sent to heaven!

The saints protested, "Lord, we only gave him good advice. We told him go and bath in the Ganga. But it's not our fault he didn't bath in that. For that you are sending us to hell?"
God said, "My sons, he had faith. You destroyed his faith. You tried to destroy his faith. You deserve hell."
You see, his faith brought him to where he was. It is not necessary to go to the Ganges. So it is my mind, it is my faith, which makes even a bucket of water the pavitra Ganga. …………. Spiritual science says, sitting where you are, if you are able to invoke that divinity within yourself, link yourself to that with which you are eternally connected, but which link you have forgotten - you can never break it. Have faith in yourself.

Source: The Principles of Sahaj Marg, Volume X, pp. 75-76, P. Rajagopalachari, 1997, Shri Ram Chandra Mission India

Q: What is faith to you?

Q: Why was the attitude of the saints unhelpful to the fellow? Does purity of being and character come from bathing in a river, or from within?

Q: The greatest human beings have always displayed humility, and thus have not looked down on anyone else. They see divinity in everyone and everything. They see beyond the outside, to what is within a person. They see the attitude behind an action or a word. Can you think of anyone you know who is like this?

Q: In Sahaj Marg, Maxim Nine says: "Mould your living so as to rouse a feeling of love and piety in others." Do you think it was the fellow or the saints who followed this maxim?

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.