A man once had a question about the Divine, and he went to a wise man and he said, “You’re a wise man. Tell me, where is the Divine?” So the wise man said, “Okay.” So he called his servant, and he said, “Bring me a big thing of salt.” The servant brought a big thing of salt. And he said, “Now bring me a bucket of water,” and he brought him a bucket of water.
He gave the salt to the man, and he said, “Now take this salt, put it in the bucket of water, and stir, stir, stir, stir, stir.” And he kept stirring; he kept stirring, stirring, stirring, stirring—till the salt disappeared. The wise man said, “Where is the salt? Has it disappeared? Is it gone?” And the man said, “Yeah, it’s gone!” He said, “No! Taste the water. It’s still there.”
The same thing with the Divine. The Divine that you search for is unsearchable, cannot be searched for. Do you know why? It’s already there. Closer than your nose! Closer than your fingertip, dissolved into this magnificent creation, everywhere—and in you too. In you too!
You’re trying to see that salt that was held in the guy’s hand once. It’s still there, but that’s not the way it is. But it’s still there.
When you, in your life, begin to understand the simplicity—not the complex. See, everybody has told you things; you never questioned them. You didn’t question. The people told you things; you didn’t question them. You just said, “Ahh, okay….”
And you went along like this all your life. And today, you’re here, and I’m going to challenge you. I absolutely am going to challenge you—on what you know and what you don’t know. And I am going to say to you, that what matters in this life is what you know, not what you think.
You touch something hot; you burn yourself. And what do you say? “Oh, I thought it was turned off.” Huh! So, tell your fingers that: “It’s okay. Don’t hurt. I was thinking the iron was turned off.”
Your finger says, “I don’t care what you thought. I don’t care what you thought. That iron was hot. And you, dum-dum, touched it—and now, I’m going to let you know you shouldn’t have done that.” This is how it is.
You’re not here to suffer—but suffering is there. You’re not here to suffer, but suffering is there. Choose that that will take you towards that beauty that is inside of you.
– Prem Rawat
