In plain words
In this temple the bell called ‘Om’ goes on ringing without a break. This itself has been described as ‘Brahman as sound, all that moves and is still, radiance, speech, eternal Ānanda, the highest beyond the high, Māyā, auspicious splendour’. Instead of trying to listen to that auspicious sound, man listens to the things of the world; he neglects the divinity whose form is Saccidānanda.
Who is the true devotee?
Once, in the Viśveśvara temple at Kāśī, as the priest was waving the ārati, a golden plate fell down from above. ‘Only the supreme devotee shall have this. One who does not keep the Name of God in mind shall not have it,’ was written upon it. Seeing this, the priest was overjoyed. ‘Every day I worship the thousand liṅgas; I perform abhiṣekas. Reciting the Vedic mantras without a break, I am making my time fruitful. So who in this world is a greater devotee than I?’ With that thought he touched the golden plate. At once it turned into a plate of clay. Ashamed of his pride, he set it down at once. It became a golden plate again.
From that day on, every person who came to the Viśveśvara temple would touch the golden plate, and the moment he touched it, it would turn to clay ... This went on for some time. One day a supreme devotee entered that temple. He was a man who had mastered himself, and who kept the Name of God in mind without a break. Seeing him, the priest: “Sir! Touch this plate just once,” he asked. To this the devotee: ‘I have no desires of any kind. I have no use for that golden plate. So I will not touch it,” he said. ‘At least for my satisfaction you must touch it,” the priest pleaded. ‘All right; why displease the priest?’ he thought, and he touched the plate. At once it began to shine with still greater brilliance. The people there were struck with wonder: ‘Sir! What worship do you do?