To walk with one’s own light
11 October 1975 am in Buddha Hall
A YOUNG RABBI
COMPLAINED TO THE RABBI OF RIZHYN: –
’DURING THE HOURS
WHEN I DEVOTE MYSELF TO MY STUDIES,
I FEEL LIFE AND LIGHT,
BUT THE MOMENT I STOP STUDYING,
IT IS ALL GONE.
WHAT SHALL I DO?’
THE RABBI IF RIZHYN REPLIED: –
’THAT IS JUST AS WHEN
A MAN WALKS THROUGH THE WOODS
ON A DARK NIGHT,
AND FOR A TIME
ANOTHER MAN ACCOMPANIES HIM
WHO HAS A LAMP,
BUT AT THE CROSSROADS THEY PART
AND THE FIRST
MUST GROP HIS WAY ON ALONE.
BUT IF A MAN CARRIES HIS OWN LIGHT WITH HIM,
HE NEED NOT BE AFRAID OF ANY DARKNESS.’
THERE are religions – Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism – and many more. But they are
religions, not THE religion. They are the reflections of the moon in many kinds of minds. They are
not the real moon.
The moon is one but it can be reflected in millions of lakes. Reflections differ, but the reflected is
one.
Mind is a mirror. When religion is reflected through the mind a Hinduism is born, or a
Mohammedanism or a Judaism.
When the religion is not a reflected one, when one comes face to face with reality without any mind
whatsoever, when there is no mind between you and the truth, then there is born THE religion.
Hassidism is THE religion. Sufism is THE religion. Zen is THE religion. They differ only in names;
otherwise they are all the same. Their language is different but not their content. They all have
looked at the moon, but they call it different names. Obviously, that is natural. But they have
not been looking at the reflections. They don’t believe in creeds, ideologies, scriptures, dogmas,
doctrines. They know the truth, and when you know the truth there is no need of scriptures.
You carry the scripture on your head when the truth is not known. Theories are substitutes, dead.
Truth is always alive, eternally alive. It cannot be confined in words; the message is wordless.
And you cannot come to it by somebody else because whenever there is a medium, it becomes
a reflection. When your own mind creates a reflection, what about other minds through which you
come to know it?
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