My breathing was shallow, my mind was running at full throttle and my body distracted with the pleasures, aches and pains of living; and I realized that the guru’s teachings were beyond me, to implement in this state. I needed to take those deep breaths and quite the restless mind and relax the body, if I wanted to attain a meditative state and this was not the place or time for it, as desire and craving were driving me wild. I needed to get into the light of the soul and only then would the lotus within me open and reveal the serenity of the moment. I remembered the story of the two brothers Banta and Santa and their quest for what they had lost.
It was a dark night and Santa was returning home when he came to a street light and was angry to see his brother Banta crawling around on all fours in the dust under the light, getting his beautiful white clothes all soiled up in the process. He yelled at Banta and said “Oh Bantaya what are you doing crawling around on the street in the mud and getting all dirty. You know Ma is going to get mad, as she keeps saying what an idiot you are. Now come on and listen to me as she has always said I am so much smarter than you; and get up and let us go home to Mom, as it is past dinner time.”
Banta looked up at Santa and said that he was looking for his lost rupees and why couldn’t Santa help him find them. Hearing about the Money; Santa also got down and started crawling around, looking for the dropped money. After 10 minutes of crawling and looking everywhere he told Banta, “This is quite hopeless, I have looked everywhere but I do not see it anywhere, and now all of my clothes are as dirty as yours. Are you sure you dropped it here?” By now Santa was hungrier and even angrier at Banta for delaying them.
Banta looked at him innocently and said “Of course I didn’t drop it here Santya, I dropped it back in the dark field but it is too dark to look there now, so I am looking here under the light where I can see much better. Do you think I am idiot to do the hard work to look around in the dark?” This made Santa get up in anger and he was truly furious now, “Banta, mom was right that you are an idiot, get up right now and let us go home and eat dinner you moron. I will make it much easier for you to find it tomorrow”
Banta reluctantly brushed himself off mournfully looking one last time around for his lost sum and as they walked away he asked Santa, “Santa, If you think you are so much smarter than me, how do you plan to make it easier to find my money tomorrow?”
Santa puffed out his chest and thinking aloud said “We will go home and eat and drink our fill and sleep well tonight and don’t worry. Tomorrow when the sun comes up and it is nice and bright and we are refreshed and less tired, we will look for it again dear Banta. I will even save you this long trip; as in the bright light of day we can look for it right outside the house, and won’t even have to tire ourselves and travel this far from home.”
Banta was duly impressed and said “Santya I agree with mom; that you were so much smarter than me, why can’t I be more intelligent and think more like you and save us all this trouble? You can always find the easy path for us.”
The moral of the story is that true knowledge is hidden in the dark recesses of the soul and we need inner faith to find it, and oftentimes a good guru can pass the flame on to us. It is a hard path to walk on; and in finding ourselves we will discover the whole of creation, and then we can pass the torch to the next generation. We should not be distracted by the so called smart ones who are seeking for it in an external light. Their intellectual path may seem easier but it will only leads us deeper into the manifold manifestations of Maya.