Pure Consciousness

He was a scholar unparalleled.

But never enjoyed his success. Happiness eluded his heart. He knew not what ailed his soul. Worldly pleasures did not interest him. Disgust rose as a painful lump in his throat. He felt he did not belong to the world of materialism. He could not fall into the rat race and compete.

One day he left everything behind and walked away from all bondage.

He walked many miles, slept under trees, starved for days, mingled with mendicants in search of peace.

Nothing touched his heart or awakened his spirit.

He covered the entire breadth of the country.

Yet peace eluded him, the emptiness persisted, he felt unsatisfied and decided there was no such thing as peace in this mortal world.

At long last he reached the end of a remote countryside. Wearily he sat down under a massive tree.

Hunger and thirst besieged him.

There was no stream near about.

He got up to see a small hut on the farther side of the massive tree. Slowly he approached the hut, an old woman was stoking fire to her stove with a large vessel of gruel in it.

He humbly stood at the doorway to ask for a glass of water but stood silently witnessing the woman kindling the fire, he was captivated by the scene.

Suddenly the woman looked up from her task and beckoned him in.

He went in and noticed that the hut was too small to house more than two. An old man was lying on a straw mat. Presently the old lady placed a glass of water before him. He drank it gratefully. He was about to take leave, when the old man fell into a fit of cough. She calmly got up from her corner and lifted him to a sitting position. The cough subsided. She gently rubbed his chest and few seconds later went back to her job.

The gruel was boiling, she stirred it a few times, ladled it into a bowl and placed it before the scholar. She ladled some more in another bowl, took it over to the old man and spooned him the watery gruel. He drank it slowly.

The scholar watched this touching scene from his end and forgot all about his hunger and thirst. The old woman gently laid down the man and came back to the stove to continue her work.

The scholar saw these simple acts as acts of wisdom. He lifted the bowl to his lips and savored every spoon.

Not a single word was exchanged, yet so much transpired between them.

He got up, went near the old man, saw his closed eyes and fragile form. Something in hmi stirred, he experienced a strange kind of emotion bordering on spirituality. The woman did not utter a single word but watched him with compassionate eyes.

When night came, a strange kind of fullness pervaded the modest dwelling. He saw Divinity in the supine form. Cosmic Energy danced the empty space. There was something more pronounced in the emptiness which his eyes could not see, his body could not feel. A Mysterious Energy bigger than anything else sat still in the empty space and he paid attention to the emptiness outside himself and within him.

He stayed on with the couple. Nothing was asked, he was accepted silently without a word.

He did his daily duties, helped the woman in her chores and looked after the old man’s needs.

The days belonged to them and the nights to him.

He sat in a meditative state every single day near the old man.

Gradually he realized, there is no pain, there is no pleasure, attainment nor non-attainment, existence nor nonexistence.

One day without his knowledge he released himself from all sensation, impulse and emotions.

At last he opened his eyes to see the world with pure consciousness.