Premananda taught the monks practical Vedanta: how to blend work and worship in daily life. Even while chopping vegetables he would talk about the Master and relate many stories. His watchful eyes were everywhere. If someone peeled a potato a little too deeply, the swami would remind him that the vegetables had been bought with the devotees’ hard earned money and great sacrifice of their comfort; it was not proper for the monks to misuse those things. Premananda could not tolerate any waste, and he imprinted this idea in the minds of newcomers.
He also joined the monks in pulling out weeds from the courtyard, cutting fodder for the cows, and making cow dung balls for fuel by mixing cow dung with coal dust. He did not just give orders. “All work here is sacred,” he would say, “whether you cut vegetables, whether you prepare cow dung balls, whether you go out to give lectures or worship in the chapel — everything is service unto the Lord. You have to learn to do everything with an equal sense of reverence and sanctity in your heart.”
True religion means the manifestation of perfection within. Premananda insisted on this perfection in every action. Swami Ashokananda recalled: “He continually impressed upon the minds of the monks that they had to be completely devoid of ego, completely devoid of any kind of carelessness, completely devoid of any kind of worldly desire. Everything had to be done perfectly from beginning to end. Once he explained the reason for it: ‘My boys, one day you will have to do very responsible things. If you don’t learn the habit of responsibility in small things, you will not learn the habit of responsibility in big things. You will cheat.’”