LETTER TO A FRIEND
Many...many years ago, I used to cycle to the fringe of the village, where the water canal stretches out, providing water to the adjacent fields. There, on a slightly elevated ground I could see the distant Gunung Keriang, the sea of golden padi and the village houses that dotted the horizon.
Taking a break from school homework and to cool off after the normally hot afternoons, this frequent sojourn was a source of much contemplation. Confronted with an open sky and the panoramic view, I could not help but be moved emotionally - sometimes inexplicably.
How can you describe joy, sadness and longing when at times they seemed to mix! There was also a deep sense of mystery - something that I could not seem to locate but which I knew was real. As real as the smell of the padi field mud and the buzzing of red and black spotted insects in the wind. I recall how, at times when this deep sense of mystery took a strong hold of me, I would say out to myself, "One day, I will know what this all means!
Years passed by.....University days, work and then marriage. Soon, almost unexpectedly,
I found myself at the door of the house of a man who will have a profound impact on my life. I remember quite vividly that first visit- the slightly dimmed living room; the Teacher with his large turban and open necked white cotton T shirt; and the rhythmic sound coming from the Grand-father clock.
"The path", said the Teacher, "is a form of Teaching or formula that enables a person to submit to the will of the Lord in a state of perpetuity…”
“If you wish to know the Greater mystery, you need to start with YOUR OWN MYSTERY - your own SELF!
"Do you know who you are?”
“Do you know your own self?”
"Not the blood and bones, not the eyes or the nose or the ears or the limbs. But THAT which animates the eyes, the ears, the nose, the limbs…"
"For He, who knows self, verily knows his Lord"
Little did I realize at that time that these mighty words were the answers to the question that I posed to myself years earlier in the village! That which I sought and longed for then was the knowledge of my own self!
And those mighty words still echo in my ears as I type out this message to you, hoping that they too become pointers on your quest for Truth.
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"Yellow2" by Gray Bradley.Copyrighted.