One morning at 9:00 o’clock Premananda was about to start worship in Belur Math’s old shrine. Swamiji came to the shrine to bow down to the Master. Seeing Premananda, Swamiji said: “Brother, all these days you have been worshipping the Lord with flowers and sandal paste; now start worshipping the living gods. Go to Belur village and serve the poor and the afflicted.” Then Swamiji asked his disciple Brahmachari Nandalal to perform the worship and Premananda left the shrine to obey his leader’s order. In the village he found an old, sick widow and offered her treatment from the monastery’s charitable dispensary; but the woman refused his help. Then he came across a few unwashed children in another area; he brought them to the monastery, cleaned them with soap and water, fed them, and sent them back to their homes. When Premananda was asked, he told Swamiji about his experience, “When I was serving them, I felt I was actually serving the Master through living gods.” (Source: God Lived with Them)