The Pearl of Wisdom - Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

The Lotus Pond

Guru : There is a pond. It is at a lower level of earth where water flows into it. People refer to such a collection of stagnant water as a low lying area. When it rains, the pond becomes filled with water. When the rains continue, dirt and mud too find their way into the pond. Grass and lotus plants appear in this collection of mud. People call it a lake when the water does not strain itself and there is plant life. Some people bathe and others wash themselves in its waters saying:” Oh this lake is good.”

The water is stagnant and lotus plants grow in it. It looks pretty. Roots and flowers appear in the water. The leaves are useful to man. The lotus plants put out shoots and bear flowers and leaves. People now call it a lotus pond. Some fish appear on their own in the mud at the bottom of the pond. Some fish enter the pond with the flood waters, while other fish fall into the pond with the rains from the sky. The frogs see the pond from a place of elevation and jump into its waters. Waves form and break into all four shores and overflow to expand the pond. More living creatures migrate into the pond to live there. People look at the pond and say, “ Yes, it is a good pond. There is water. There is an ache in my stomach. I shall ease myself here and wash my hands and feet before I proceed.” Yet others say. “ Oho, this was earlier a low lying piece of land. Now it has become a large lotus pond. This water is not so pure. All the rain water in the village collects here. Chee! Chee! This is not suitable for drinking”. They say this and go away.

Cattle, goats and cow too come to drink the water in the same pond and also to ease themselves, dropping their excreta and urine there. People come there to pick the lotus leaves and others to gather the lotus flowers for the temple. Some come to fish. They all come, each for his individual purpose.

Each person completes the work for which he has come and goes away. However, the manu-eesan who sees the pond thinks, “ What is this ? This is a muddy pond. It contains the droppings of cattle and human excreta. There are frogs and fishes. It is not clean. After all, this was only a piece of low lying land once. There is excreta on one side. It is dirty. Cows drink the water. There are fish and crocodiles. There is mud. There are lotus flowers. This pond is impure.” They say this and that and talk about the impurities of the pond.

But if man uses his wisdom, he will realise that where there is a pond, there is mud; where there is mud, there is the blue lotus flower; where there is the lotus, there is impurity; where there is impurity, there are many fish, frogs and similar creatures. Where there is a pond, people will come there to fulfil their needs. They will perform their duties and go away. There is a repulsive impurity in the pond.

But Angel Mikha’l comes and cleans this impurity and deposits it with a collection of dirt. The lotus eats this dirt and flourishes. The flowers bloom into a large size. The water in the pond becomes clear. Many creatures live happily in the pond. The sand on the shores of the pond is clean. The water in the pond is so clear that one sees one’s face in it like in a mirror. The man who does not cast adverse remarks on the nature of the pond and does his work and goes away is a manu-eesan.

Just like the secret in a man’s life, the inner meaning of his body lies here. Inside the repulsive pit mixed with many types of dirt, man is formed into a dirty embryo and remains in this state for ten months. Venom is mixed with his flesh, skin and nerves. At the tenth month, he finds his exit through the entrance of the same dirty pit. At the end of nine months, nine days, nine “ nalihai”, nine hours, nine minutes and nine seconds, he comes through the passage with fluid oozing out and with melting heart of desire. He falls out of the passage, gazing at the dirt. We see it as a baby. On falling on earth, he gazes at the same repugnant spot which he had desired in his previous existence. He desires the place called “Mother” She makes him the rightful owner of four things. That is why there are some specific differences in man and woman and these differences are referred to as males and females.

The baby looks at the mother and fondles her breast. It strokes it with its hands and gazes at it with his eyes. It cries and clutches it. It is this that nourishes the baby and helps it to grow. The baby falls down, cries and clutches the mother’s bosom and sucks it with its mouth. The mother says, “ The baby is crying in hunger and must be given its milk.” As soon as the child is born, he observes that place and knows its inner meaning.

He utters, “Are you the mother of these four: hunger, disease, old age and death ?” He grinds his gums saying. “ Are you the woman who has shaken up the total universe, knowing the philosophical meaning of these four and their result? Oh woman, do you not control and subordinate even the celestial beings and play games before my very eyes – the six acts of lust, hatred, greed, miserliness, bigotry and envy and the sixty-four arts As the ghosts that destroy the body like the dog of desire and falsehood ? You are the devil that develops my body and makes me wander about like a dog on this earth. You are my mother but a devil for this earth. Oh you desirous mother, I shall attack you and break you. I shall feed you with heavenly words of “Mother ! Father ! I shall show you the Primordial One. I shall dance the sixty-four arts with you, compressing them within three years. “ So saying, he bites the cheek, kisses the nose, squeezes the breast, kicks the chest, pinches the ears and does many other things and completes the sixty-one games within a span of three years. He does this with no malice. He speaks with theAathi, the Primordial One and smiles with the mother. It is this infant, having completed the sixty-one sensual arts who is born as a manu-eesan. This gnani is called an “infant” by the world and the mother. Reflect on this and be clarified.

My brothers and sisters, Aathi, the Primordial One converses and laughs withmanu-eesan, stays with him, plays with him, feeds him, sings his lullaby, carries him, kisses him and embraces him till he is three years of age. The ten evil qualities of intoxication, lust. theft, murder, falsehood, jealousy, prejudice, impatience, haste and arrogance are torn away from him. Born as manu-eesanwith the Aathi ( The Primordial One), he completes the sixty-one arts compressed within three years of age. He grows happily to a youthful stage.

Brother, it is because the ten evil qualities that had been got rid of, that God loves the manu-eesan, trusts him and is close to him, despite the great task of the sixty-one arts he had completed earlier. When manu-eesan severs the ten evil qualities, God is to him what he is to the infant. He will kiss him, converse with him, help him, show him love and speak to him. This child will be a true gnaani. These are the important signs of the body and its powers. Aathi Eeswaran ( God) plays with the infant, carries him, gives him milk ,sings him lullaby, wheels him about in a pram, feeds him with ambrosia and performs several other things that are beneficial to the child. This babe and the true gnaani are in the same state. Please reflect carefully about this.

When the child grows up, he catches the same repulsive spot at the second opportunity. It is called love, infatuation or lust. He handles this spot at the second opportunity and for this event the world holds celebrations and ceremonies. The right for procreation in this hell-house of this world is obtained with pride. In this state of pride, some spots that are to be concealed are kept exposed. But brother, born as human and after having successfully completed the sixty-one sexual arts and reached their finality, he is oblivious to such temptations. It is he who is born as a manu-eesan and completes sixty-one of the sixty-four arts in this worldly life until he is three years of age. At this stage, he is exempted from the other arts. The child thereafter becomes oblivious to these sensual arts. The human mother does not recognise the sixty-one arts and thinks the child is behaving innocently.

This babe will be a great gnaani. The Aathi Sivam (The Primal One) sees his greatness and determination. He plays and laughs with the babe saying, “ Oh greatgnaani , you have successfully conquered and discarded the sixty-one arts. When you reach the age of twenty-one years, the three arts that are unknown to you will become four types of women. They will turn out to be devils who will destroy you. They will show love to your face but cause injury to your heart. They will show love that will melt you and lust that will blind your eye. The ghost whom you denounced will squeeze your throat. The three arts unknown to you earlier, love, infatuation and lust will join the sixty-one arts already conquered by you to follow you when you are twenty-one years of age. These three arts and the sixty-one will make the sixty-four sensual arts. The three arts are the four types of women. Your youthful age will try to turn you into a dog.”

“O precious son, if you escape from this and become a manu-eesan, the Aathi Sivam (The Primal One) will befriend you. The meaning of this cannot be easily told in full. But the enormous debt of severe karmic births will send you into three and a half crores of birth. It is those who conquer this enormous debt who are the truegnaanis. You should know this. But son, this is very rare in the world. These truegnaanis will be like children. They will conceal themselves. They will know themselves. They will worship the Lone God. They will forget the world and proceed .They will conquer death. They will be in seclusion and hiding. They will not work for glory and fame. They will not display themselves as great men. They will not seek praise. They will not look for the birth place. They will possess many virtues, good conduct and behaviour. They will be at prayer and worship the Lone One. They will be aloof. Look for a guru of this high state. Do selfless service to him and thereby acquire great benefits and reach the glorious feet of the Master (God ). This is the manu-eesan’s greatest acquisition of the unattainable and rare gift of birth.

When you perform your many rare duties to the true guru and expect no reward, your guru consciousness will develop and the grace of the guru too will grow. Through the grace of the guru, the disciple will develop. He will grow in wisdom and his love for the Aathi (The Primal One ) will increase. His sins will thereby be erased and this will lead to the disappearance of fever, disease and hatred. All this will make the earth pleased and the justice of the king will be enhanced. Kindness and the love of fellow beings will grow. The blessings of celestial beings will be showered. Charity will develop and patience will increase. Poverty will cease to exist. Guru grace will spring forth. The massive debt of birth will be erased off due to this grace. Truth will grow. The generous celestial beings will be alone with you offering you assistance.

But son, at this point I must take you back to the planting of the tree in the desert and its greatness. This tree is the excellent and virtuous guru leader. All the words spoken now are about this truthful guru. Reflect on this and do your service to him wisely and your wants will be removed. You must perform selfless service towards him with one mind. Accordingly, the tree of guru’s grace will grow to tower sky high.

Many poisonous winds will attack this tree .The guru’s grace will receive thepoisonous wind and send in its place a good wind that will be of benefit to the country. Likewise, my son, if the services of a true guru are available in a country, good will accrue and pave the way for the prosperity of that country. You must look for such a “tree” and discover “it”. You cannot easily find this tree in any tree-family. You should not cast aspirations and label the tree as good or bad, as the words occur to your tongue.

Brother, when such a tree grows in a desert, people want to selfishly and greedilyenjoy it exclusively for themselves and prevent its benefit spreading to others. Contrary to this conception, it is our duty to protect this tree in the desert as we protect a fruit-bearing tree in our garden in the country. We must share its benefits with all mankind. If we thus water the tree with the waters of our love, the fruits of love will be abundant on the tree to be eaten by all the needy. Further, this tree can bring happiness to all living beings. It is the panacea, katpaham, ( the celestial tree of the divine realm ) that grants all wishes. Therefore, the grace of the guru should be sustained and nourished and no hindrance or evil should be allowed to touch it.