The Woman of Samaria - Part 2

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The Woman of Samaria - Part 2

 

The woman saith unto him, " Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is

deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our

father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his

children, and his cattle? "

 

Jesus answered and said unto her, " Whosoever drinketh of this water shall never

thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall

never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of

water springing up into everlasting life " (John 4:11-15).

 

(p.298) The woman of Samaria, steeped in ignorance, could not yet understand the

oblique reference of Jesus to " living water, " hence her foolish question:

" [since] thou hast nothing to draw with...from whence then hast thou that living

water? "

 

The " living water " of

divine bliss in the soul

 

(p.299) Jesus spoke of the inner experience, the uncovering, with the help of

one's guru, of the wellspring of divinity within the soul. He said, in effect,

that whosoever depends solely upon physical sustenance remains bound by mortal

body consciousness, with its never-ending thirst for sensory experiences and the

fulfillment of material desires. Oblivious of the all-sustaining,

all-desire-quenching Divine Life and Bliss within his soul, the material man

will die unfulfilled. His yearnings will remain with him even after death, a

latent thirst that will impel him to reincarnate again and yet again in search

of satisfaction.

 

But whosoever drinks of the fountain of eternal bliss in God will find the

thirst of every desire of all his incarnations quenched forever. Souls who

discover the everlasting Well of Bliss within themselves are never thirsty for

the evanescent satisfactions of a mortal existence and its material desires.

 

The worldly man, on the other hand, having lost his soul contact with God-Bliss,

tries to satisfy himself with pleasures of the senses--a foolish expectation.

Millions of people die of broken hearts, having tried vainly to " lay up for

themselves upon earth " a treasure of lasting happiness garnered from material

things, when joy inexhaustible in God awaits the seeker in the temple of

meditation. Thus did the Lord speak to Prophet Jeremiah: " For My people have

committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and

hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. " [1]

 

Gratifying the body and ego with material experiences and possessions can never

compensate man for his lost infinite soul-happiness. Indeed, the materialist's

quest achieves the opposite of what he intended, making him susceptible instead

to every form of sorrow and suffering inherent in the cosmic scheme of

dualities.

 

Mortal desires promise happiness, but give sorrow instead. " Because sense

pleasures spring from outward contacts, and have beginning and end (are

ephemeral), they are begetters only of misery. No sage seeks happiness from

them. " [2]

 

(p.300) The soul of even the most worldly person is inwardly conscious of its

supernal Bliss, lost only in its outward identification with the flesh. That is

why it can never remain contented for long with the temporary pleasures of the

senses. If one has lost a diamond, he will not satisfy himself by replacing it

with bits of broken glass that he finds shining in the sunlight. The glitter of

sense pleasures, no matter how alluring, soon yields disappointment, satiety,

and disgust.

 

" The thirst of incarnations is slaked by whosoever will drink the effervescent

waters of the well of Divine Bliss in the soul, springing up into everlasting

life " --this is the wisdom Jesus sought to convey to the woman at the well.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 17, pg. 298-300

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Jeremiah 2:13.

 

[2] 'God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita' V:22.