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There lived a thief in a village. He stole in many houses without getting caught. One day, however, he was caught red-handed while stealing in a house. The public tied him to a pillar and discussed on how to punish him. The thief pleaded with the villagers that he shall not steal henceforth and that he be forgiven and let go off.

The villagers were not ready to pay heed to his pleas. Thinking that they should punish him in some way, they all decided in unison, "Let us chop off his nose!" Thus, they chopped off his nose. The thief felt embarrassed to walk freely in the village since his nose had been cut off. The whole village teased the thief. Wondering what to do, the thief decided, "Let me move to a forest where there are no human beings". And, he moved to a forest and lived on fruits and roots. But merchants used this forest path to travel between villages.

Once, those merchants were traveling by this path. On seeing them, the thief pondered on a way to avoid them. Not knowing a proper way out, the thief thought, 'Let me close my eyes and sit quietly'. He looked around for something on which he could sit. He found a dead tiger's skin. The thief sat on the tiger's skin and closed his eyes. The merchants passing that way noticed this man sitting in this manner. One of them said, "We have crossed this path several times. But we have never seen this man!" Another merchant replied, "He must be a saint. Let us place our offerings at his feet without disturbing his meditation and continue our journey."

Thereupon, all the merchants offered coins at his feet and left. After reaching the next town, they told the merchants there about the saint whom they had seen in the forest. In course of time, one of the merchants who was regularly making offerings to the thief-saint prospered in his business. On hearing this news, other merchants began to worship the thief-saint by offering money at his feet. People began to believe that they prospered only because of worshipping this saint. His fame began to spread far and wide.

A young spiritual aspirant in that town went in search of this strange nose-less Swamiji! The youth served the Swamiji in many ways in order to get Guru 'upadesa' (spiritual instructions). Days rolled by. One day, the youth pleaded with the Swamiji to give him 'upadesa'. The Swamiji kept postponing. "Some time later," he would say. The youth lost his patience and said, "Swami! I cannot wait any longer. I too want to become like you. Please teach me whatever spiritual sãdhana (practice) you underwent in order to reach your current state."
Unable to bear his persistent request, the Swami said, "I will give you the 'upadesa' tomorrow. Meet me alone early morning."

The next morning, the youth came alone to meet him. Then, the thief who was dressed as a swami chopped off his nose with a knife and said, "You asked me about my sãdhana. This is the sãdhana!"

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