There was a man, and he was on his way to his fields. And as he was walking along, he came across an object. Now, this village that he was from was very, very remote, and hardly anybody ever visited. This village was also very isolated from any technology, any new things.
So when this man came across this object, he picked it up and he looked at it. And he was very surprised! And he said, “Wow, what a beautiful painting of this beautiful person! How beautiful is this painting; how beautiful is this face. How incredible.”
So he took that, and he put it in his bag. That day he came home; he pulled out the so-called “painting” and he put it on his dresser, and he just sat there and watched and watched. He was mesmerized at how beautiful this painting was. This was so gorgeous!
The wife saw him sitting and gazing at this object, and she was very confused. So when the man went to get some dinner, she snuck into his room, and went and looked at this so-called “beautiful painting.” And she was shocked.
She was shocked because she saw in this object the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. And immediately, being of a suspicious nature, she said, “Ah-hah! Now I understand why he’s been sitting here and watching. He is in love with this woman, and indeed, he would be in love with this woman because she is so beautiful!”
She became furious—started fighting with her husband. “What is the matter of this? You know, why are you not faithful to me? I mean, what is wrong with me, and why…why do you…why do you fall in love with this other woman?”
The father, the owner of the house, the elder, he came, and he said, “Why are you two fighting?” She said, “Well, because! He has this painting of this incredibly beautiful woman on his dresser.” And the man said, “No, you’re lying.” So, the elder, the father, decided to go see for himself
And when he looked at this painting (so-called painting), what he saw is this man, beautiful gray hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful flowing beard. He said, “Oh, my God! This is a picture of God himself!”
And now, all three of them are fighting. And they’re fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting. Finally, a wise man happened to be passing by; he peeped in, and he said, “Why are you guys fighting?”
The man said, “Listen. You’re looking in a mirror. This is no painting. This is called a ‘mirror.’ All it does is simply reflect. What you saw was not any other man but you yourself! And what you saw—as he turned to the wife—it was you. You don’t have to be suspicious—that was you!”
And he turned to the old man and he said, “Old man, that’s no picture of God. That’s you.”
Why the war? Because they didn’t know who they were. When they saw that reflection, they didn’t understand. And then, once it made sense: “That’s me!”
But what makes you, you are these attributes of knowing, of wanting peace, and recognizing the peace you have within you.
– Prem Rawat
