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depth, the secrets of religion are not revealed. Religion in itself is a mystery, which remains incomprehensible to a superficial observer.
Once the disciples of Guru Gobind Singh assembled before him in a group. While acquainting him with their problem, they said, "Everyday we sing in praise of the Lord, but it has brought us no enlightenment. We have practised sadhana for years together, but to no purpose." Guru Gobind Singhji said, "I understand your problem. We shall look into it."
A few days later, he called all the disciples and said, "Fetch me a pitcher full of wine and gargle your mouths with it, without letting go a single drop down the throat. Do it till the pitcher is emptied." The disciples fetched a big pitcher of wine. They took mouthfuls of wine and instantly spat it out. Within no time, the pitcher got emptied. Guruji said, "Did you finish the whole lot?" And when they replied in the affirmative, he said, "It was a lot of wine. Didn't you get intoxicated?" The pupils looked at their guru in surprise. They humbly said, "Gurudev! We never let a drop go down our throats. So how could we get intoxicated?"
Guruji, taking up their words, said, " O pupils, here is the answer to your problem. You have sung in praise of the Lord, but only superficially. The name of the Lord never got deep down your throat! How could you be benefited? Until your whole mind is identified with the name of the deity, until you repeat it with all your heart, until you become rapt iterating it, no benefit would accrue to you." In the context of this story, it becomes apparent that unless one descends into the depths of religion, all religious worship proves futile. Sadhana is a fruitful method of exploring the depths of religion. After undergoing this process of exploration, all doubts stand resolved of themselves. The question about the utility of religion for the present age does not then arise at all.
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