MAN WITH A TUB OF DYE

NATURALLY the doubt arises in the mind: if

God is formless, how then can He have form?

Further, if He has a form, why does He have so

many forms?

These things do not become clear until one has

realized God. He assumes different forms and

reveals Himself in different ways for the sake of

His devotees.

A man kept a solution of dye in a tub. Many people

came to him to have their clothes dyed. He would

ask a customer, "What colour should you like to

have your cloth dyed?" If the customer wanted red,

then the man would dip the cloth in the tub and

say, "Here is your cloth dyed red." ff another

customer wanted his cloth dyed yellow, the man

would dip his cloth in the same tub and say, "Here

is your cloth dyed yellow." If a customer wanted

his cloth dyed blue, the man would dip it in the

same tub and say, "Here is your cloth dyed blue."

Thus he would dye the clothes of his customers

different colours, dipping them all in the same

solution. One of the customers watched all this

with amazement. The man asked him, "Well! What

colour do you want for your cloth?" The customer

said, "Brother, dye my cloth the colour of the dye

in your tub."

THE CHAMELEON

ONCE a man entered a wood and saw a small

animal on a tree. He came back and told another

man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red

colour on a certain tree. The second man replied:

"When f went into the wood, I also saw that

animal. But why do you call it red? It is green."

Another man who was present contradicted them

both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently

others arrived and contended that it was grey,

violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they

started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the

dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man

sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: *'Yes, I

live under this tree and I know the animal very

well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it

appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times

blue, violet, grey and so forth- It is a chameleon.

And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has

a colour, and now it has none."

In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God

can know His real nature; he alone knows that

God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms

and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has

none. Only the man who lives under the tree

knows that the chameleon can appear in various

colours, and he knows further that the animal at

times has no colour at all. It is the others who

suffer from the agony of futile argument.

ALL PURE SPIRIT

ALL doubts disappear when one sees God. It is

one thing to hear of God, but quite a different

thing to see Him. A man cannot have one hundred

per cent conviction through mere hearing. But if

he beholds God face to face, then he is wholly

convinced.

Formal worship drops away after the vision of

God. It was thus that my worship in the temple

came to an end. I used to worship the deity in the

Kali Temple. It was suddenly revealed to me that

everything is Pure Spirit. The utensils of worship,

the altar, the door-frame - all Pure Spirit. Then like

a mad man I began to shower flowers in all

directions. Whatever I saw I worshipped.

HE EATS, YET EATS NOT

ONCE Vyasadeva was about to cross the Jamuna.

The gopis also were there. They wanted to go to

the other side of the river to sell curd, milk, and

cream. But there was no ferry at that time. They

were all worried about how to cross the river,

when Vyasa said to them, "I am very hungry." The

milkmaids fed him with milk and cream. He

finished almost all their food. Then Vyasa said to

the river, "O Jamuna, if I have not eaten anything,

then your waters will part and we shall walk

through." It so happened. The river parted and a

pathway was formed between the waters.

Following that path, the gopis and Vyasa crossed

the river.

Vyasa had said, "If I have not eaten anything."

That means, the real man is Pure Atman. Atman is

unattached and beyond Prakriti. It has neither

hunger nor thirst; It knows neither birth nor death;

It does not age, nor does It die. It is immutable as

Mount Sumeru.