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52. The Quest for the Soul
Shrimad
hrimad was visiting the small town of Kavitha. On one occasion he was accompanied by a number of other men on his daily walk. Shrimad normally walked slowly and kept his eyes to the ground. After they had walked some distance, a woman passed by carrying a bundle of hay on her head. Since the woman often saw them, she started muttering to herself, that these banias are wandering all over the forests. She wondered what had they lost, that they kept looking for it.
Shrimad heard the woman's words and in his own inimitable way responed: "Sister, we are looking for ourselves!" This is a natural response from Shrimad, who was so ardent in his quest to realize his Soul.
The school children of Kavitha had gathered on the outskirts of the town to listen to Shrimad's sermon. Shrimad asked the children: "Would you answer a question for me?"
The children readily agreed, shaking their little heads vigorously in the affirmative. Shrimad asked the children:
"Let us say, you are walking along the road, holding a pot full of butter-milk in one hand, and a pot full of ghee in the other. Now, suppose somebody pushes you accidentally. Which of the two pots would you try to save?"
One of the school children, Girdhar, promptly replied: "Surely, one would save the pot with the ghee in it."
Shrimad asked him : "Why? After all, whether butter-milk or ghee, they are both made from the same substance, aren't they?"
Girdhar said, "If the butter-milk gets spilled, you'll always find people willing to refill the pot. But, well, no one would offer to refill your empty pot of ghee."
Of course Girdhar was right. Shrimad then explained the moral of this parable. He said, "People strive to preserve this body which is akin to buttermilk and they care little for the soul which is precious like the ghee. The one who knows the value of the soul, will safeguard it, like ghee. And in times of crisis such a person will let go off the body, like the buttermilk. It is to endure the karmas of the past that we have the body but it is the Soul that we need to take care of and preserve."
