The Lesson ‘Dakshinamurthi’ teaches…

Bhagawan’s unique way of story-telling often brings lore from ancient lives, texts and even from realms unknown to man, known only to God … here comes a beautiful recountal from Bhagawan, Who narrates a story involving The Supreme Teacher, Dakshinamurthi, from Whom it is believed that all the knowledge, sacred wisdom, emanated.

Once, Dakshinamurthi wanted to teach the people the real spirit of God and also He wanted to enjoy Himself. He took a tree as His guru; He took a river as His guru, so also He took a stone as His guru. He took nature as His preceptor and began to travel with joy.

After some time, He reached the shore of an ocean. He sat on the shore and was contemplating. At that time a little dirt had fallen in the ocean. The ocean became very furious and sent wave after wave to repel that dirt to the shore. Dakshinamurthi got angry with the sea. He said, “What is this? This dirt is a very small thing and the ocean is a very expansive one. Can it not contain this small piece of dirt in itself? How selfish is this ocean?” Then He reflected that because the ocean is to be respected, He should find out whether it wished to give Him some message. He felt he should not get angry with the ocean and prayerfully asked that He be given the reason for its action and thus make His heart and mind peaceful. Then the ocean spoke thus: “I am very expansive and very large and in me are born many, many animals and creatures. Therefore, I always wish that my form should be very clean. If I give place to dirt, though it be very small, tomorrow it will make all my form unclean. Therefore, I did not want to give place to that little dirt and wanted to throw it back to the shore.”

This, Dakshinamurthi compared to samsara or family. If, in the family, we give place to a mean idea or a mean quality, it will certainly grow and will cover up and enmesh the whole family. Therefore, people leading a family life should try to see that not even a small, mean quality enters it. Samsara does not refer to family life alone. Our life itself is a samsara. So in this life, we should never give place to things that will mislead us or that will make us unclean.

II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II