Contrary to the above comment about faith in Bhakti, Swamigal was always in the non-dual state as evinced in an incident, wherein, while walking along the Agraharam in Tiruvannamalali, he stopped a passerby to ask him, while pointing to a tethered buffalo, as to what the passerby sees. The passerby said, he saw a buffalo, to which Swamigal correct him saying, "This is Brahman" (The Oneness of existence), thereby proving that Swamigal just communicated the same principle of Advaita albeit in a slightly different manner from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.