Two wonderful analogies

Last weekend, I was in a conversation with Manmohan uncle and he shared with me two very interesting analogies about divinity.

I was asking him why we should go through material life to realize God in oursleves. Why should we succeed in our job? Why should we marry? Why should we have kids? By involving in these material activities, we just increase our desires and attachments. Do we really gain anything?

As an answer he gave a wonderful analogy. A tiny little fish in the Pacific once had a desire to see the ocean, not knowing that it fact lives in one. It asks all the marine creatures that come in its way big and small, but none of them knew the answer. Finally, it came across a wise fish which said, "You can do this two ways. You can either jump out of the water and then take a look at the ocean and die, or, you can come to believe and understand that each and everything around you is in fact the ocean and continue to live by enjoying its beauty and wonder."

We as humans like the tiny fish seek to know divinity not realizing that it is just within ourselves and everywhere around us. To realize it, we can either live a life of an ascetic without any material attachment to anything which may perhaps result in death. Or otherwise, we can continue to live admiring everything around us with all our heart and soul, acting out of love each and every time by understanding that we are in everything around us! We are all one and the same Divine self!

Another analogy he shared with me stuck hard on my head. He said, "If I give a rose to your right hand, would it be happy?".

"Yes, why not?", I replied.

"Is your left hand jealous or disappointed because it didnt get one?"

I began to understand what he wanted to convey, and nodded on. His next few questiosn were really thought provoking.

"If someone hurt your right hand badly, would your left hand stay put?". "Do you think it would first check with the right hand to see if it really needs help before trying to soothe the hurt?"

Of course not! Then why do we need to check with anyone if he or she needs help. We need ACT, and ACT quickly without second thoughts! Each of us is like an arm to our source which we call God. And each arm does what it has to do. No ifs. No buts. Period.

If the left arm hurts the right arm, who is the loser?