Find it out; Thou Art That

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Sun Oct 7, 2007 8:01 pm (PST)

 

Story Indra and Virochana

 

A god (Indra, the supreme among the gods) and a demon (Virochana)

went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with

him for a long time. At last the sage told them, 'You yourselves are

the Being you are seeking.' Both of them thought that their bodies

were the Self. They went back to their people quite satisfied and

said, 'We have learned everything that was to be learned; eat,

drink, and be merry; we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us.'

The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded; so he never inquired

any further, but was perfectly contented with the idea that he was

God, that by the Self was meant the body. The god had a purer

nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking: I, this body,

am Brahman: so keep it strong and in health, and well dressed, and

give it all sorts of enjoyments. But, in a few days, he found out

that that could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there

must be something higher. So he came back and said, 'Sir, did you

teach me that this body was the Self? If so, I see all bodies die;

the Self cannot die.' The sage said, 'Find it out; thou art That.'

Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were

what the sage meant. But, after a time, he found that if he ate,

these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became

weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, 'Sir, do you mean

that the vital forces are the Self?' The sage said, 'Find out for

yourself; thou art That.' The god returned home once more, thinking

that it was the mind, perhaps, that was the Self. But in a short

while he saw that thoughts were so various, now good, again bad; the

mind was too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and

said, 'Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self; did you mean

that?' 'No,' replied the sage, 'thou art That; find out for

yourself.' The god went home, and at last found that he was the

Self, beyond all thought, one without birth or death, whom the sword

cannot pierce or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or the water

melt, the beginningless and endless, the immovable, the intangible,

the omniscient, the omnipotent Being; that It was neither the body

nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied; but the poor

demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body.

This world has a good many of these demonic natures, but there are

some gods too. If one proposes to teach any science to increase the

power of sense--enjoyment, one finds multitudes ready for it. If one

undertakes to show the supreme goal, one finds few to listen to him.

Very few have the power to grasp the higher, fewer still the

patience to attain to it.

- Swami Vivekananda

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the

things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

- Swami Vivekananda