Surdas and the sweeper.
Dhirasanta Das Goswami: There once lived a seeker of God called Surdas. He was eager to study and understand Spirituality (knowledge about God). He approached a Guru and requested that the Guru teach him spiritual practice so that he could get close to God.
The Guru was well aware of Surdas’ defect of anger. He knew that this would prevent Surdas from feeling closeness with God. So the Guru decided to first prepare Surdas before teaching him serious spiritual practice. So the Guru replied, “Dear Surdas, chant the Lord’s Name during all your activities, for a month. Then take a bath and come back to me.”
Starting the very next day, Surdas chanted the Lord’s Name during all his activities. After a month, he went to a river, took a bath and put on fresh clothes to visit the Guru. On the way to the Guru’s ashram (hermitage), his clothes got dirty as a sweeper was sweeping the street carelessly. Surdas was furious and shouted at the sweeper, “What you are doing, you fool? Now I have to go back, wash and dry these clothes and bathe again! Such a waste of time!”