Talks on the Gita -Vinoba 121

Chapter 11 VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM OF GOD 56. Full Vision Even In A Small Image 9. It is because the Lord is present in different objects as different attributes that we find joy in them and feel a kind of relationship with them. The joy is not without a cause; it is there because we are somehow related to them. A child is a source of joy to his mother, as she knows the kinship. So, relate every object to the Lord. Realise that the Lord within you is there in that object too. As this realisation grows, your joy too will increase. There is no other source of real joy. Start establishing relationships of love and see the wonderful results. You will then see in every speck of dust the Lord who is immanent in the whole creation. Once one gains this realisation, what more would one ask for? But, for this purpose, the sense-organs must be disciplined and trained. When the lust for sensual pleasures gives way to the pure spirit of love, you will find Him and Him only in each and every object. There is a beautiful description of the colour of the soul in an Upanishad. What could be its colour? The sage says lovingly, ‘यथा अयं इंद्रगोपः’ (‘The soul is like an indragop’) The sight of an indragop fills us with immense joy. Why? Because that which exists in me exists in the indragop too. Had there been no relation with it, I would not have felt such joy. The indragop too has the same beautiful soul that I have. That is why the simile of indragop is given. Why do we use similes? Why do we find joy in them? A simile pleases us as there is some similarity between the objects compared; otherwise it would not be pleasing. If somebody says that salt is like pepper, we would call him crazy; but if somebody says that the stars are like flowers, we see the likeness and appreciate the simile. We find nothing common between salt and pepper; but if someone’s vision has become broad enough to see that the Lord who is present in salt is present in the pepper too, he would be delighted with the statement that ‘salt is like pepper.’ What all this means is that everything in the world is filled with the Lord’s presence. To realise this, one need not have the vision of the cosmic form.