Page 284 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot
P. 284
The sadhu then said, “Take this karanka (i.e, a water-pot, usually borne by a sannyasin) and get me water in it i take no water except that of the Ganges.” he said, “The Ganges is close at hand. i will come back with the Ganges water before long.”
Within a short while, he fetched water in that karanka and offered it to the sage. he (the sage) then took the karanka in his hand, looked at it from one side to the other and placed it on the ground. The sage then said, “This is not the water from the Ganges.” The man said, “strange! i have collected it from the Ganges. Do not doubt about it. You can take it without hesitation. it is nothing but the Ganges water.” The sage said, “how can it be the Ganges water? The Ganges is too vast. Many a ship, steamer, shark, crocodile, huge fish moves about freely, but i can see nothing in this pot of water. so how can it be the Ganges water?”
The man said, “This is the Ganges water. i myself have collected it from the Ganges. Only because it is a small container, one cannot see all those things. The container is too small for the big fishes to move about.”
The sage then made the man understand the point, “see my son, you yourself have answered your own question. Just as the huge amount of water of the Ganges and the Ganges water kept in this small container are all the same, you cannot understand it because of the littleness of this container. similarly, both the Jivatma and the Paramatma are the same, only that the littleness of the container makes it different.”
Baba also cited another example. he said, “Once when a disciple came to his Guru for advice, the latter advised him ‘Tatvamasi’, i.e. That Thou art. The disciple could little follow the importance of the words of his Guru. he went to some other Guru. after having wandered to lot of places, he at last came to Benaras and there he came to know about a great scholar-professor. he stayed there at Benaras for a day and decided to learn lessons of truth with that professor. One day he expressed his desire to that professor. The Professor said, “Everyone who is having lessons is entrusted with a duty. if you feel like learning lessons here, you need to do something.” The man agreed to the proposal. The new-comer then
254 Kailashpati