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and will be there on the opposite shore, too. In between is the flow of birth and death. Because of Karma and attachments the soul has to revolve in the cycle of birth and death. If you take a vessel and cover it with mud, it will not float. But scrap off all the filth and see how merrily it floats away on the waters of the river! The soul, too, when it is weighed down by Karma and attachments sinks in this river of life and death. Cleanse it of these and it will bob
up to the surface. It does not then need any external help. It is its very nature to shoot up. Have you ever held a candle upside down? Does the flame burn downwards: How can it?
True vision is the appetite of the soul; true knowledge is the understanding of the soul; true character is the perfect experience of the soul. In this last stage there are no more questions, only answers; no more murmurs, only fulfilment.
In the relationship between the bee and the flower we see the embodiment of all the three stages. From a distance the bee gets the fragrance of a beautiful flower. Instinctively it knows the direction from which this fragrance comes, it knows it is there. This is vision. The bee now flies to the garden and finds
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