I heard a story many years ago about a truth seeker who went to the Himalayas in search of truth. He heaved himself over stony crags, struggled through snowy wastes, and braved many an icy storm before finally discovering a hermit who lived in the remote corners of a cave. There, he prostrated himself he cried, “O holy one, please explain to me the secret of life!”
The hermit paused, then lifted a finger portentously and declared, “Life, my son, is a rainbow.”
The other sprang to his feet and cried, “I’ve come all this way, and braved all these hardships, only to discover that life is nothing but a stupid rainbow!”
The hermit, looking at him anxiously, replied, “You mean — it isn’t a rainbow?”
That’s just a silly joke, of course. This morning, however, a thought occurred to me that may at first glance sound just as silly, but it is serious. I realized that life is a funnel!
The narrow opening of the funnel is the ego. In most people, the flow is downward, into the ego. Everything they know is funneled down to, and into, their little egos.
As one becomes enlightened, however, the flow turns around. It is upward and outward: from the little ego to infinity.
Usually, when people pray, they say, “Come to me; help me; take pity on me.” Great inspiration and inner freedom, however, come when one can bring himself to think and pray, “In whatever way I visualize You, You are behind that, beyond that! I, personally, don’t even exist. My own reality is infinite.” The more you can direct your mental flow outward and upward, the more blissful you will become — that is to say, you’ll become fullof bliss!
