Two Teachers, Different Teachings

There were two teachers of different sects who heard of a saint living in the forest. They both went to him and asked, “Sir, how can we have joy in our lives?” The saint replied, “Just keep your bodies healthy. This is the source of joy.” Hearing this they both went back to their tribes and started preaching. 

The first teacher said to his people, “I have been to see a saint. He says you have to enjoy this world. You have to keep your body well — eat, drink, and be merry. Enjoy everything to the maximum because this world will not be available to you again.”  His people ate, drank, and were merry. They pampered the body. They are still doing this now, they are still preaching this today. Ninety-nine percent of people belong to this sect, looking after the body with food, sleep, and sex. 

The second teacher went back to his people and told them the same thing, but they questioned the teaching. However hard they tried to keep the body healthy, it still became sick, and even when the body was healthy, something was still amiss — the mind was still troubled. So after six months, the teacher of this sect went back to the saint to ask if there had been some kind of mistake. 

This time the saint welcomed him saying, “Very good, my dear boy, now go and look after your mind. Just make sure that the mind is comfortable, that’s all.”

So this teacher went back to his people and they tried. But they found that however hard they tried, however much they concentrated or meditated, the mind could not be brought under control. Another six months passed, and again this teacher returned to the saint.

By this time that first teacher had still not been back to the saint and has not been back to this very day, after millions of years. Those of his tribe say happily, “I am arrogant. I’m an egoist. I’m in grief, anger, jealousy. I’m a hypocrite…” And they’re all very proud of it, even today, millions of years later.

However, the second teacher, still troubled, returned to the saint after six months and told the saint that he could not keep his mind under control. “Very good, well done,” replied the saint. “The mind is very fickle. It is like air. You can’t keep it under control. Now, above the mind there is a power called intellect, the power of discrimination. Every man has this power of judgment. Go back and find out what is real and what is not real, then come back and tell me.”  

Again the teacher went away, he tried, and he came back. “I have been trying with the intellect. I started with the objects of the world which we perceive through the five senses. All these sense objects appear and disappear. Things I saw some time ago have already disappeared. So the intellect is not reliable because it attaches itself to things which disappear. It loves things which are not eternal, and this does not bring peace, happiness, bliss, or consciousness. I have discovered this about the intellect, but still the attention goes out to objects.” 

“OK. Very good,” the saint said again. “A teacher will teach you only to the extent that you are ready to receive. Those who are ready will see what happens.”

The teacher went away, and started to witness the intellect, the mind, the senses, and their objects from somewhere behind them. He said to himself, “Now I’ve done it. I am the witness of the intellect itself. I can see my decisions very clearly, and I can judge whether they are good or bad. I will not cling to the impermanent, to that which is not eternal, or to that which does not bring bliss.”

Once again he returned to the saint and asked, “Is there anything deeper than this, anything more precious?” He asked for guidance. 

The saint replied, “Leave everything. Get rid of your intellect, mind, ego, body, senses, and objects. Have the firm conviction that you are existence, consciousness, and bliss itself. Do not use your intellect, your mind, or your senses. Just merge into existence, as we are speaking now, and become one with existence. Have the firm conviction ‘I am existence, I am consciousness, and I am bliss.’”