Rebbe Nachma's Rebuke Without Words

A reliable sign of whether the mentor we are attached to is truly righteous, and whether the connection between us is as solid as it should be, can be seen in how we feel in his presence. Does being with him, even when our conversations focus on mundane matters, inspire a powerful yearning for self-improvement and transformation?
During the years of the early spread of Enlightenment thought in the Ukraine, the three prominent atheists of Uman made a solemn pledge: they would bolster their new ideology by swearing to never allow the Name of G-d to pass their lips again. Several years later, they met Rav Nachman of Breslov zt”l when he was passing through their town. They were intrigued by a distinctly un-Rabbinic way of his; although he would spend time talking with them about everyday matters, he never lectured them about religion or rebuked them for their heretical beliefs and behavior.
Eventually, these three returned to a certain degree of observance. But at the beginning of their relationship with Rav Nachman, the leader of this band of maskilim was known to wonder aloud, “I can’t understand it! How many years has it been since I’ve said G-d’s Name? Yet every time I spend a few hours conversing with this Rav Nachman, I feel as though he is pulling at my coat tails and shouting: Hirsch Ber! There is a G-d in the world!”