Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Gems
I looked at her. She was so beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. Nay, she was beauty itself. She was wearing a bluish garment sparkling with light. Her face radiated peace and composure I had yet to experience on Earth.
She was standing besides a river. The sun was rising and the river reflected the dawn's beauty in all it's glory. The whole scene raptured me and filled me with awe.
She had a big bag which seemed to be half filled with stones. It was only when she pulled out one of the stones that I realized it was no ordinary
stone. No, it was a beautiful gem. I had never seen such a beautiful gem, surpassing the brilliance and the elegance of any gem on Earth.
Then she did a rather peculiar thing. She threw the gem into the river. Before I could say anything she did the same thing again. And again. And
again.
It was beyond me how such beautiful gems could be so easily discarded by her. Couldn't she see how precious, how valuable these gems
were?
Once in a while, she would put a gem into her pocket. But then she would go right back to dropping those beautiful gems, one after another, into the river.
Finally I broke out of my spell and said, "Who are you?".
She looked at me and her eyes sparkling with life and mirth, said, "I am you".
It completely shocked me to think that I could be that beautiful. "But", I stumbled, "I am ugly and dirty, you are pure…?"
I could feel her laughter inside. "I am your soul."
Like a flash of lightening, I completely understood her. I saw her and me as one. My dirt and ugliness were the false and fleeting me.
She was the true me. Like a jewel wrapped in rags,
I had hidden her from the world. Nay, I had hidden her from me.
There was complete understanding.
I didn't have to ask her about her curious behaviour of throwing gems. The gems were the priceless suaas (breaths) given to me. The ones I had spent on SIMRAN, she had put in her pocket and had became part of her treasure. The rest were uselessly thrown away.
