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of Truth, its abode, its haven." We plant a seed in the ground; it sprouts into leaves and branches and becomes a big tree. Have you ever thought that this big tree, under which so many people rest... from where has it come? Where is its being? Is it in the little seed from which it started? Break the seed -- there is no sign of the tree, but it is very much there, hidden in the being of the seed. This vast expanse of the world -- this too is hidden in the seed of this "being within" and it grows and spreads all around from there. We too are hidden within ourselves, in the folds of the seed of our Being. From there, we appear, expand, then shrink and fade away.
All motion of life is from within to without. All things grow from within and spread without -- the expansion is always outside. The reverse never happens: nothing goes within from without. And our attention is only drawn towards this -- our being, our soul -- when we are completely relieved of the outside world. When the eye is freed of the world outside, then only is it free to look within.
It is natural then, that as long as we project our vision on the objects outside, we are unable to see within. A wandering eye cannot delve within. We are habituated to see the outside, for we think that whatever is obtained is from the outside. All our attachments are outward oriented and hence this illusion. We can only start to look within when it becomes clear to us that no one has ever attained anything from outside. Those who have looked without have looked in vain; they have laboured in vain for they have reached nowhere.
Perhaps you know the story of Alexander -- that when he died his hands were kept dangling outside of his bier. People began to wonder at this gross oversight on the part cf his ministers, for Alexander was a mighty emperor. But no one seemed to take note of this omission, though great kings and soldiers were taking turns to shoulder his bier! By evening things became clear. Before he died, Alexander had asked his friends and ministers to keep his hands outside the shroud, for he wished the world to know that even the mighty Alexander, the conqueror of the world, left empty-handed.
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