It is too often that we tend to mistake the chaff for the grain and end up making false assumptions and wrong inferences. In our haste to make conclusions and pass judgements, we deny ourselves the Precious insights that a more analytical and discerning observation would have afforded us with.  Opinions thus formed blur the vision and colour the thoughts as we become prisoners to our own prejudices and preconceptions.  Tainted arguments marshalled, facts twisted and plain truths ignored, all aimed only to support a predetermined idea that foreclose any new evidence that might suggest a conclusion that is in divergence to the one already formed.

The shores of the ocean are littered only with Pebbles while it’s mostly the messy weeds that float on its surface.  And, based on such a spurious observation, to declare that the vast ocean has only pebbles and weeds to offer would be a gross travesty of the truth. To find precious pearls one need to dive deep into the depths of the ocean and scan many a cave, cavern and coral for they are never found drifting  on the surface or tossed up by the waves. The prized possessions are always only for the diligent and for the one willing to go beyond the superfluous and who is receptive to new dimensions that open up on his life’s voyage.

The sweetest, the precious and the priceless are always encased inside a tough, hard and bitter exterior. While the cool and soft kernel of the coconut is hidden deep inside its rock-like fibre, it’s the bitter rind of the orange fruit that preserves the sweet juice within.  Diamonds are concealed in the rocky veins and the dark and bitter honeycombs are a glorious deception to the nectar that they hold. Just as it would be foolish to pass the uncut diamond as a piece of rock, as absurd as to ignore the honeycomb as a tasteless waste, it is equally insane to vilify thoughts and visionaries only because they do not subscribe to our preconceived notions or directly challenge our existing state of understanding.

While the truth could be very obvious to a few of those who have the needed insight, it would require calmer and deeper enquiry for many others to perceive the same. Though the sculptor already envisions the image of the figure that he is chiselling out of the hard rock, it becomes increasingly obvious to the onlookers only when rough edges give way to the smooth contours of a definite sculpture.  But at the end, everyone sees the same image in all its beauty, irrespective of how they looked at it before. So too the pristine truth stands majestic, unadulterated by the biases and prejudices of many of its critics, for it is its own authority and witness.

This has been the same fate even with the Avataric personalities down the ages. Many of his contemporaries mistake him as just another incidence of a human birth and run him down with calumny, falsehood and a concerted smear campaign. For, they are too timid to make a little effort to know the truth that would have opened up a new awakening and thus a more purposeful existence.  They could only be pitied and sympathised for they know not what they are indulging in. If only they let go their little egos and practice a little sadhana through the three-fold path of Service, Adoration and Illumination, the truth of SAI would become obvious.

Yours in SAI

Narayanan