One day when he was sitting under a tree suddenly bird droppings fell on his forehead. His face got completely covered in hot bird excrement. He became very angry and looked up to find the culprit. There was this bird, sitting high up in the tree oblivious of what it did to Kanavan. When Kanavan - the sanyasi (one who accepted sanyasam) laid his angry eyes on the bird, the unfortunate creature got burnt down in ashes.

When the sanyasi saw this, he thought that his penance succeeded and that he acquired mystical powers through God’s blessings. He stopped his penance and came back to a village and decided to spend his future life there, worshipping God.

He used to go from house to house to collect alms. One day he visited a house and knocked its doors for alms. It took a long time for the lady of the house to open the door. The sanyasi has to stand outside quite a long time. By the time the lady came to open the door, he got very angry and decided to punish the lady for putting him to wait so long. When the poor lady opened the door she saw the sanyasi in a very angry mood. Seeing her the sanyasi shouted, "Do you know who I am? I will burn you alive." The lady replied politely "Aye, Konkanava I am not like that bird you once burned. I am a dutiful wife. I was nursing my ailing husband, which is my first and foremost duty. I will attend anything else only after attending to his needs. So no power in earth can touch me."

The words of the lady surprised him. She knows everything about him. This opened his eyes. He thought about only his needs and forgot to think about others. He apologized to the lady and requested her to give him advice.

She said, "I am not capable of giving you any advice. But at the end of this street there is a man sitting. Some times he may be able to answer your questions. He appears to be a learned man." So saying the lady went inside to attend to her husband who was sick.

The sanyasi walked towards the end of the street to find the learned man. But he could not see anybody other than a butcher who was very busy cutting meat and giving it to his customers. There was a long line of customers waiting for his service. The sanyasi looked here and there to find the learned man. At last though with hesitation and hatred he approached the butcher to ask about the learned. The butcher just looked at him and showed his hand to wait even without hearing him. On several occasions the sanyasi started to inquire about the learned man. But the butcher only thwarted the sanaysi's attempt by showing his hand to wait. The sanyasi has to wait there, hours. At last, after finishing his work, the butcher came to the sanyasi. By this time the sanyasi lost all his patience. Before he could open his mouth to inquire about the learned man, the butcher said, "I am sorry that it took sometime to finish my duties. Because of my failure my customers should not suffer. I hope you came here as advised by the lady residing on the other end of the street." These words astonished the sanyasi. He wondered how he came to know the conversation he made with that lady awhile ago He realized that the butcher is a learned man. "How sincere he is to his duties." The sanyasi exclaimed.

They talked to each other for hours. At last the sanyasi realized that for worshipping God one need not run away from worldly duties. Performing one’s duties with utmost good faith is itself a worship of God. Accepting sanyasam is running away from responsibilities and so cowardice. It is not necessary to go to Mount Himalayas for penance or to acquire knowledge.

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