|
Main Index
|
| |
| |
|
| |
The Vast Expanse cannot be pointed out with a finger.
The trivial can be pointed at with a finger but if someone asks, "Where is God?" we cannot say, "This is He." We cannot point a finger to God. Rather, all fingers are to be withdrawn into the fist in order to indicate God. When a person closes his fist and says "Here He is," it means the suggestion points nowhere. You cannot point in any direction for He is everywhere.
But the questioner will not be satisfied with this answer. If I close my fist, and say, "Here He is," he might take my fist to indicate Him. Then I shall have to say, "No, no, not my fist." And so negation will start. The man may further try to elucidate his question. He might say, "Perhaps, I have not made my point clear. Is God in the East?" I will have to say, "No", for if I say He is in the East, what happens, to the West? And when we affirm that He is in the East, knowingly or unknowingly we deny His presence in the West.
Directions are the intimations of the limited. What is left behind, is denied. So the second way is that of Negative -- Suggestion. When a person tries to explain with this way, he does not say -- "It is this, it is that"; rather, he says "It is not this, it is not this -- 'Neti-neti'". All his answers are to this effect. A lot of patience is required on the path of Negation, for whatever you ask, he will say, "Not this". Then a time will come when there is nothing more to ask. Then he will say, "This is He!"
It is just as you would begin to question me about things in this room. You catch hold of the table, the chair, the wall and I keep denying. Then when everything in the room is spent, you catch hold of yourself, you catch me and begin to ask: "Is this He?" And I still keep on denying. Then when there is nothing more to ask and when there is nothing left to deny, then Lao Tzu will say, "This is it!" But then you will be in difficulty. You will say, "You have denied all! Now?" In fact, that which cannot be denied even by denial -- that is he. We deny something and it is negated -- what authority does it have? What is the value of that which exists with man's acceptance and is extinct by his
|
|
|
|
| |