From a satsang with Pt. Dr. Umesh Persad, Spiritual Leader, SWAHA Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali
Once there was a man who was walking along the shore of a lake on a bright, sunny day. He looked into the lake and in the still water he saw his own reflection. Looking at his reflection, he was fascinated by it. As he stared, the question arose in his mind: is this who I am? He pondered the answer.
The next day, he decided to return to the lake again. However, overnight, the weather changed a bit and there was a slight breeze blowing over the water. When the man looked into the lake again, he saw an image of himself, but it seemed to be moving about as if it were distracted.
The next day again, he went to the lake shore again but the weather was rainy and the water was turbulent. When he looked into the lake, he couldn’t see a true reflection of himself. Instead, he saw a distorted version looking back at him.
After some time had passed, there was very stormy weather. He was so eager to see his reflection in the lake in that weather, that he returned to the lakeshore and looked at his reflection again. What did he see in those stormy conditions? His image also seemed to be angry and storming. He asked himself, is this the real me?
All the while, as he was going back and forth, looking at his reflection, there was a little animal who was observing him. A fox was observing the man’s behaviour and reactions. Seeing the man yet again day after day, the animal laughed. The man heard him and turned around and saw the fox in the bushes.
Then the fox spoke to the man. He said, “Foolish human. You are looking at what is merely a reflection of who you are. It is changing with every passing mood of the weather. How can you believe that this is the real you?”
“Then where is the real me?” asked the man.
The fox said to him, “Return here, in the depths of winter and you will find out who you are when you look into the lake.”
When winter arrived, the lake was frozen solid and the snow was falling. The man returned to the lake, looked at it and saw only snow and ice. He could not see his reflection.
The fox arrived and he talked about his observations. Then the fox said, “Exactly, now you can no longer settle for these passing images or projections of yourself. The lake is like an empty canvas, inviting you to become the person you truly are. Look inside your own heart. Look beyond your passing moods. Then you will discover who you really are.”
In this wonderful story the lake represents the mind. The mind functions constantly and is full of many thoughts. When there is a mental wind, like the stormy weather, such as anger, happiness, greed, praise, blame and so forth, the mind storms about and thoughts race through the head. We all observe these occurrences in our minds. The mistake we all make is that we think that these thoughts, raging through our minds, are ourselves. However, the thoughts and emotions that we observe are not our true selves because we are the ones that are doing the observing.
When all of these storms subside, like the still lake, then the mind also is still. We realise then that we are observers, and that the mind is not limited inside of our bodies. In fact, that observer is everywhere. That is what is referred to as the true self. All religions around the world give us tools and techniques so that we can realise that our ideas about the self are false.
All our activities and thoughts are just ideas in the mind. When the mind and emotions are still, like the reflections in the water, then the mind is in the present moment. In the ‘right now right here’, we are aware of awareness itself. This is not something to be understood intellectually; it is something that we must experience – it is the reason it is called self realisation.
