Parable of The Well-Cooked Feast
Once upon a time there lived a
Brahmanishtha Guru with a certain disciple of his. They were both living in one
and the same Kutir. The disciple duly studied and mastered the various
scriptures. He also served the Guru day and night.
His proximity with the Guru
made him think that he was the only beloved disciple of the Guru. This further
led him to believe that the other disciples, who were wandering hither and
thither all through the year and occasionally visited the Guru, were not truly
devoted to the Guru. All that only strengthened his ego.
One wintry night, the disciple
returned to the Kutir after finishing some outdoor work. He heard the voice of
another disciple, an occasional visitor, inside the Kutir. He knocked at the
door. The Guru asked, "Who is that?" The disciple replied, as usual,
"It is I, please open the door."
The Guru replied, "I am
enjoying a well-cooked feast. There is no room for a second one in my
feast."
The disciple misunderstood the
Guru. He thought he was belittled and insulted before an occasional visiting
Gurubhai, almost a stranger for all practical purposes. So, being annoyed and
offended, he left the place immediately and went about wandering aimlessly.
As days rolled by, his heart,
mind and ego got thoroughly burnt by the fire of separation from the Guru. His
heart and mind, his very being as well, were cooked well by the fire of Viraha
(separation). He forgot himself and went almost mad with Guru-Bhakti.
One day, all on a sudden, he
rushed towards the Guru's Kutir and kept on knocking at the door aloud:
"Gurudev, Gurudev" in a rich love-laden tone. That very sound drowned
even the Guru's usual and formal question, "Who is that?" His mind
was filled with the presence of his Gurudev alone. He was blind to everything,
nay, neither he nor the universe existed for him; only the Guru existed.
The Guru knew well the voice
of his disciple. He could no longer wait. He, too, rushed out and
affectionately embraced the disciple, saying "I am now enjoying a well-cooked
feast. There is no room for a second one in my feast."
God is omnipresent and
non-dual. There is no room for a second one to exist by Him. There is no room
for that little self of man in this vast universe.
As long as the little ego
persists, you, too, should be wandering in the dark, undergoing all hardships
like the proud disciple. In that state your being religious, your visiting
temples and places of worship, your observing austerities - all those things
cannot make you the beloved of God.
You should have Ananya-Bhakti,
love of God for God's sake. Mere service of God with the thought "I am
serving God" cannot become Ananya-Bhakti.
When your ego is consumed by
the fire of Viraha, when your heart and mind are well cooked in that fire, nay,
when your love for God is well cooked over the fire of separation, and becomes
delicious and palatable to Him, when, in that state, neither you nor this
universe exist to you, but only He exists filling your heart and mind, then and
then alone, will you become the beloved of God. He will then rush towards you
and embrace you like the Guru embracing the disciple.
Then both of you will enjoy a
well-cooked feast at which there will be no room for a second one.
Kill the little self and say:
"O Lord! All this is Thy Own Self"
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