Nature of God

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Nature of the

Self<br>--------------------<br><br>In a gurukulam, a guru was teaching about

the nature

of God. He said, "If our body is like the tree,

there are 2 birds sitting on it. One bird is small and

not well developed, the other bird is big, and has

fully grown wings, and is well developed. The smaller

bird is our soul, or the jivatma, the bigger bird, is

God or paramatma. <br>Whatever karma we do affects us

only, and not God, b'cos that's His

nature".<br><br>Then one student stood up and asked, " How can it be

that, when we do karma, only we get affected , but not

God.?"<br>Guru replied, " B'cos that's God's nature. That's what

said in the Vedas."<br>The student was not satisfied,

and said that the Vedas are not right and dont' offer

a correct explanation.<br>The Guru replied, " Don't

talk against the Vedas. The Vedas are the authority,

and whatever is said in the Vedas is correct."<br>The

student said, " If everything in the Vedas is correct,

how can it be that the same karma affects only us,

but not God."<br>The Guru said that he'll explain

later. The student thought that the Guru didn't know the

answer, and that the Vedas too didnt' have an appropriate

answer, and thought that he was greater than his

Guru.<br>The Guru too started giving more attention to this

student, and this increased the student's

pride.<br><br>Few months passed this way, and then came the month

of January. Jan 15th is celebrated as Pongal /

Shankranthi. In the ashram, the Guru Patni ( guru's wife) made

Chakra Pongal ( A sweet dish, with a lot of ghee). The

Guru first called this student, and gave him some

Chakra Pongal. The student relished it to his heart's

content. <br><br>Since the chakra pongal is made with a

lot of ghee, the hands get extremely greasy after

eating it. In those days, they used to wash their hands

with shikakai (soap nut powder). The Guru gave this

student some shikakai, and asked the student to wash his

hands off the grease. The student also washed his hands

thoroughly. When he came back, the Guru gave him some more

shikakai. The student said, " But guruji, I already washed

my hands. My hands are very clean." <br>Then the

guru said, " This shikakai is for not for your hands.

Since you ate a lot of chakra pongal, your tongue is

also probably greasy. So wash your tongue well !

"<br>The student replied, " But guruji, my tongue is not

greasy ".<br>To this the Guru replied, " When you ate

this pongal, only your hands got greasy, and your

tongue did not. B'cos that is the nature of the tongue.

Similarly, when we make karma, only we get affected, not

God. B'cos that is His nature ! "<br><br>The student

realised his mistake and fell at the Guru's feet and asked

for forgiveness. The Guru readily forgave him.