Lotusflower Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 A spiritual teacher in India said to two pupils: "Imagine that what you are seeking is represented by an iron needle buried somewhere in a haystack. You must find the needle. Think it over, and tell me tomorrow how you would go about looking for it. This will give you an insight into the spiritual search." When they came back the next day, one said, "I would set fire to the haystack and watch it burn to ashes, and then wait for the wind to blow them away. In the end I would see the needle lying before me." "That is the path of the recluse," said the teacher, who gives up everything. It is a true path if heroically pursued right to the end, but from one point of view it might seem a pity to waste all the hay." Then the other pupil gave his answer. "I would take the straws one by one from the stack and examine each one closely as I went along, putting them behind me. Finally I must find the needle, even if it means transferring the whole haystack from in front of me to behind me." "That is the path of pure philosophical analysis," said the teacher. "It too is a true path. Each incident, each thought of the haystack of life, is scrutinized carefully as it passes from future to past time. It is seen clearly and then put aside. The path requires immense patience and detachment, combined with a power of continuous awareness." "Is there any other way?" they asked. "There is. It makes use of yet another fact about the iron needle. One of you took advantage of the power of the iron to survive fire; relative to the hay it is immortal. The other one used the fact that iron has a certain colour, and it is hard in the fingers. But there is something else about the thing you are looking for, which is, that it is magnetic. And this is something that the seeker can acquire also. If you spend some time creating a powerful magnet, then suspend it on a thread from your hand and walk around the haystack, pausing frequently to stand quite still, after not very long there will be a tiny quiver in the magnet you hold.(There is a quiver too in the iron you are seeking but you do not know about that.) If you follow the tiny movement of your magnet, it will become stronger. If you do not follow it, it will disappear. Following the path so indicated, you will be drawn directly to where the needle is hidden. With a little digging you will come close to it. Then the magnet you hold and the needle you are seeking will leap joyously to become one, and your search will be rewarded. In our ancient Sanskrit language, one word for magnet is ayas-kanta-mani, which means the mani or precious stone which is loved by iron and which loves iron. Create and cultivate a great love in yourself for what you are spiritually seeking, using the traditional forms which are given to you for just that purpose. Know that the quiver of love in you is being met by a quiver of love from the beyond. If there were no quiver of love there, you would feel no quiver of love here, just as the magnet would not tremble unless there were also a response in the iron. The attraction of love , as you develop it in yourself, will lead you, and become stronger and stronger. At first you will perceive it most clearly when you are very still in meditation, like the man standing very still holding the magnet, but soon you will feel it all of the time. You will still have to do some digging into your haystack... but you will know where to dig. Finally what you are longing for will leap joyously to meet you, and you will leap joyously to meet it. And you will become what you are seeking."
BasilRathbon Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 Wouldn't it just be easier to go to your nearest pound shop and just buy a box of iron needles?
Lotusflower Posted April 3, 2008 Author Posted April 3, 2008 Wouldn't it just be easier to go to your nearest pound shop and just buy a box of iron needles? Ah Basil...ever the helpful pragmatist...
Guest Mod_Man Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 I thought it was some hippy way of saying if you don't have love in your heart, you won't find love or if you're not open to love you won't find it. What if you were loving but your love was abused, would the magnet fix it?
Lotusflower Posted April 3, 2008 Author Posted April 3, 2008 I thought it was some hippy way of saying if you don't have love in your heart, you won't find love or if you're not open to love you won't find it. What if you were loving but your love was abused, would the magnet fix it? Hi, If you were loving and your love was abused it would not change anything. You are loving! That is enough. It is not in the nature of love to let what someone else does alter what is within you. If you love and your love is abused then move on. The pain of separation is a potent space for change in anyone. The magnet will fix anything you want it to fix. You only have to practice being sensitive to it's movements.
BasilRathbon Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 And what happens if a courting couple with lots of intimate metal body piercings are enjoying physical relations within the haystack? Your explanation of "Whoops, sorry I was just looking for a needle" is going to look a bit flimsy, aren't they?
Lotusflower Posted April 3, 2008 Author Posted April 3, 2008 What happens if the needle isn't ferromagnetic? Then...in the words of the great Hindu sage Jean Luc Picard, make it so!
Lotusflower Posted April 3, 2008 Author Posted April 3, 2008 And what happens if a courting couple with lots of intimate metal body piercings are enjoying physical relations within the haystack? Your explanation of "Whoops, sorry I was just looking for a needle" is going to look a bit flimsy, aren't they? Don't apologise...join in!
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