48. The Dwarf And The Giant

<< Previous - सम्यक् सरति इति संसारः

Imagine a dwarf stuck in a huge maze, without a floor layout displayed anywhere and no one to ask. And suppose he has to go from the point A to B. How will he go? Trial and error. He will roam and roam to find the way. But then he cannot easily trace back the path. So, to get a good picture of the maze, and draw a map himself, it may take days. But let us add one more complication - what if the maze is dynamic and changes its layout every day? Will he ever be able to get the knowledge of the layout of this maze? This is the tedious way of learning using the intellect. Learning is very cumbersome and moves forward at snail's pace.

This is what happens to most of the people. We are mostly mental-dwarfs. Very often we find ourselves mixed up in the situations. We are not on top of it. We seem to take steps with trial and error without knowing fully about the consequences. This way we somehow drag on saying that we are learning by experience. Even in our discussions, we can see that we cannot see beyond two or three ideas of the topic. And our arguments end up becoming a mess most of the times, leading to no conclusion.

On the other hand, what if you have a giant within the maze who is much taller than the walls of the maze? He gets a glance of the whole maze at once. It doesn't matter even if the maze is dynamically changing. At any given time, he knows what is where.

Now this is what spiritual masters are. They are mental-giants. Practice of Self-enquiry (or any other method of meditation) is something that makes you rise above the normal planes of the mind. Suddenly you will know that you have a bigger picture. You no more feel as if you are entangled in a maze even if you are standing right in the middle of it. Because you start growing into a mental-giant. The whole of maze (or at least a bigger portion of it) is visible to you with a single glance. In this case, how much time does it require for you to learn about the maze? Just a moment! It is instantaneous and spontaneous. This is the way of the wise.

Now compare this with the dwarf's tedious way of living. The dwarf is running here and there the whole day in the maze learning only an infinitesimal bit of the whole thing! But the dwarf may say that he is very active and he is saving the world by being so. He may also blame the giant wise person, who is seemingly inactive, of being lazy. But what is the fact? The wise person does exactly what is needed as he has a clear picture of the maze. He may walk only ten steps and reach the destination. Whereas the dwarf walks thousands to steps moving to and fro in the maze and still may not reach the destination. This is the paradox between action and inaction described in the Gita. Action may turn out to be inactive (non-productive), and non-action may prove to be highly active inherently.

The dwarf initially criticizes the giant, saying that he is very lazy. But the giant only smiles at the poor dwarf. The dwarf, although utterly confused about the maze, doesn't want to accept that and wants to prove that being active is the highest ideal of life. He believes and wants to prove that he will find his way out by running around thus. So, he runs and runs and runs endlessly in the maze. But how long will the poor dwarf run about? One day or the other he will have to get tired of it and surrender to the giant to get himself elevated as well. Then he sees the whole maze at once and exclaims, 'Oh why did not I do this simple thing earlier?!'

This post is inspired by the following Q&A with Ramana Maharshi.

Q: Why don't spiritual masters go around, give talks, and help people?

Ramana Maharshi: You seem to have already decided what is meant by 'help'. Do you think going around and physically helping people is the only help? A Jnani's help cannot be fathomed. It works without your knowledge.