In a village called Hippargi there lived a devotee of Sriguru. With the help of villagers he built a temple of Lord Dattatrey. For the Prana-Pratishthan^[1] of the idol, he prayed and earnestly requested Sriguru to come there. Sriguru accepted his request. The villagers became very happy, when they came to know that Sriguru would be arriving shortly. They started decorating the village with great pomp to extend a grand welcome to Sriguru.

In the same village there was a Brahmin by name Narahari. He was a great devotee of Lord Kalleshwar. Everyday in the temple of Lord Kalleshwar, he would compose five verses in the praise of Lord Shiva and offer the same to the Lord. The villagers thought that if Narahari composes devotional songs in praise of Sriguru and render service to the Lord it would add beauty to the ceremony. Therefore they requested Narahari, but he did not agree. He said, “I have dedicated my talent and voice only in the service of Lord Kalleshwar. I will not utilise my talent and voice in praising a mere human being”. Hearing this the villagers became very angry.

Finally the day planned for the ceremony dawned. Men and women of the village started celebrating with great pomp. Beautiful designs were drawn on the floors with coloured powder. The entire place was decorated with festoons of flowers and green leaves. Banners were seen fluttering in the breeze filled with melodious music emitted by the different musical instruments. Singing devotional songs and dancing along, the villagers brought Sriguru in a grand procession to the village.

That day as usual, poet Narahari came to the Kalleshwar temple to worship Lord Shiva. He performed his worship with devotion and then sat for meditation. In the meantime he had a nap. Then he had a dream in his nap. In the dream he saw Sriguru himself is seated in the place Lord Shiva’s idol in the Kalleshwar temple. Sriguru spoke to him “I am an incarnation in a human form. Why do you worship and praise me? ”. Hearing this Narahari woke up from the dream. It dawned to him that Sriguru is Lord Kalleshwar himself. He immediately ran to the house where Sriguru had camped. He stood before the door and started singing devotional song-verses composed by him in praise of Lord Kalleshwar. People present there, were highly amazed to see this poet Narahari, who had point blank refused to sing his praise-verses in the presence of Sriguru, now has started singing the same verses with full devotion in the honour of Sriguru.

Singing the praises he went near Sriguru. Sriguru asked him “You were criticizing me. How is it that all of a sudden you started getting devoted to me? ”. Narahari prostrated at the lotus feet of Sriguru and prayed “Oh! Lord, I was completely obsessed by ignorance. Please forgive me. Till today, I rendered my devotional service to Lord Kalleshwar. As a result of that devotional service I got your ‘Darshan’ today. Kindly accept me as a disciple and bless me. Henceforth I will render my devotional service at your lotus feet till the end of my life”. Then he started singing in the praise of Sriguru. Sriguru was pleased. He accepted Narahari as his disciple and said, “I myself exist in the idol of Lord Kalleshwar. Do not make any distinction”. Sriguru took Narahari along with him to Ganagapur. Narahari stayed at Ganagapur rendering devotional service to Sriguru. He composed a number of verses in the devotional praise of Sriguru. People started regarding his as an accomplished poet.