[ramakrishna] Riddles.....

March 25, 2001

Greetings to all! Here's a guess about the riddle:

When they bring everything that God has requested, he tells them, " Now drop

the stone in one of the pots....see how much noise and commotion occur, and

yet the stone is just sitting at the bottom of the pot, separate and

unaffected by the water. Now pour the milk into the other pot...see how

quietly and calmly the milk enters the water...and yet see how it becomes

mixed with the water through and through. You with all your activity and

talk are like the stone, whereas my devotee who quietly sits absorbed in Me

is like the milk. You tell me, which is the better man? "

Mkewbird

March 27, 2001

Hi Vishal,

Further to other answers to the riddle, there is another explanation you might find meaningful. If you go to a hindu temple on mondays you may catch a very old ritual performed by the devotees of Lord Shiva. A stone (called a Shivling) is first bathed in water, and milk is then slowly poured over it. Afterwards, it is again bathed in water. The stone represents God. The first and last actions; cleaning it with water represent us in the role of His servants; performing good deeds. The second action; the pouring of milk represents the on-pouring of all our devotion and thus in the role of devotees we " feed " Him with our love.

I think armed with the knowledge of this ritual, the mystery behind the riddle is solved. God asked for these items so that He could perform the ritual and explain its significance to the people. They would then realise that no one is better but each is following his or her own path to Him. Some had become like the water, and through the path of Karma yoga they would reach salvation. While others like this man, as milk, would reach the same through Bhakti yoga.

As to the last question; the wish will be that we become more like God, more like the Image of Himself which he has put inside us. Interesting enough; it follows logically from the above that we should wish to become more like a stone!! The stone is symbolic of the state of the perfect Yogi, Lord Shiva. It can sit still in perfect tranquility. It has no self-conciousness, self-reflectiveness and self-doubt. It is just itself, seeking to please no-one and taking both praise and blame with the same detachment.

With all good wishes,

Rupesh

Vivekananda Centre <vivekanandalist <Ramakrishna >; viv list <vivekananda >11 March 2001 00:05[ramakrishna] Riddles.....This came to us via one of the students in our Hinduism class.Any thoughts on the riddles?regardsjay- " Vishal Kohli " <silentwitness2<hinduSaturday, March 10, 2001 10:52its vishal> its me vishal,>> i just wanted to ask you a question. my karate teacher told us to seewhat> other people would think.>> the story is>> there is once a man, he goes to the temple every day and sits infront ofgod> quietly, he does not say or do anything, he sits and meditates. after a> while he gets up, eats and goes home. he does this everyday.>> the other people who come to the temple come in front of god and look athim> and wonder. one day they say to god, " lord all that man does is sit, eatand> go home, he never helps in the kitchen or cleans or anything. we alwaysdo> everything. which one of us is the better? " >> then god says to them, " O.K. tommorrow when you come to the temple bring to> me 2 great pots of water, some milk in one jar and a large stone " .>> the question is: WHY DOES GOD ASK THEM TO BRING THESE THINGS, AND WHAT ISHE> GOING TO DO WITH THEM??????>> also if god gave you one wish what would it be??? (he told us to ask this> too).>> thank you>> bye