The Artist who tried to Capture the Image of the Lord

[Guest guest]

There was once a world-famous artist. He had an extraordinary talent

for figure and portrait painting. He came to Krishna, in his capital

city of Dvaraka, and wanted to paint Krishna's portrait. With a

beaming smile Krishna said, " Well, if you want to paint my image you

can certainly do so. Tell me what I should do. " The artist

requested, " Swami, if you would kindly just sit still for an hour in

the same place, I will draw an outline, and then later on I will fill

in the details. " Krishna sat down on for the artist and remained

without moving. The artist made some preliminary sketches. After a

while, he prostrated at Krishna's feet and said, " Swami, I am done

now. " Smiling, Krishna asked, " When are you going to show the

picture? " The artist answered, " Swami, by tomorrow at this time I

should have completed it. "

 

Throughout the night, he worked untiringly on this difficult task of

accurately painting a likeness of the Lord on canvas. When the

picture was done the next morning, the artist was extremely pleased

with his work. He covered the painting with a beautiful cloth and

brought it to Krishna. But when the cloth was removed, it was seen

that in the intervening 24 hours the form of Krishna had undergone a

remarkable change. The artist put the portrait directly alongside

Krishna. He looked at the picture and then looked at Krishna. He

realized that there was very little resemblance between the two.

Krishna also looked at the painting and pointed out, " My dear fellow,

there seem to be a number of defects. " The artist said, " Please

forgive me, Swami. Please give me another chance. Let me try again

and I will do better. " It went on like this for ten days.

 

Each day the artist did his work over again, but it was impossible to

get a proper picture. Now the artist began to feel ashamed. He

decided it would be best if he just disappeared from there, and so he

hurriedly left the city. On the way, sage Narada happened to meet the

artist departing from the city. Narada asked the artist, " You seem

quite disturbed. Tell me what is making you so unhappy. " The artist

explained to him all that had happened. Narada told the

artist, " Well, Krishna is a master actor and a master director. He is

enacting this whole drama. Using your methods you will never be able

to get a true likeness of him. But if you really want to succeed then

listen to my words and follow them implicitly.

 

The artist agreed to do exactly as Narada instructed. He returned to

Dvaraka, and the very next day went to Krishna, carrying with him a

picture covered with a fine cloth. He told Krishna, " Swami, I have

finally been able to bring you your exact picture. Please have a

look. This will always give the correct likeness of you. Whatever

changes come into your ex-pression and form, the image that is seen

here will show all these changes faithfully. " Then he got ready to

remove the covering cloth and said, " Please accept this as my best

picture of you. " When the cloth came away, it revealed a clean mirror.

 

If you want to paint a portrait of the Lord who is permanent with

temporary materials like brushes, paint, etc., you will not be able

to succeed. In the physical universe everything is temporary. All

forms are constantly undergoing change. Such transient forms cannot

give a proper vision of the permanent Lord. If you want to have a

clean and unchanging vision of the Lord, you will be able to obtain

it only in the clean mirror, which is your own purified heart.

 

(LOVINGLY IS SAI )

RAM

Ramchand Chugani <rgcjp |

Kobe, Japan