A certain deity and a certain demon went to one great sage to find out from him what the Existence (the Supreme of all other things) is. They studied with him for a long time, and finally the sage said to each of them: “You yourself are the being you are looking for.” Both of them thought that their bodies were the Being. “We learned everything we needed; eat, drink and be merry; we are the Existence, and there is nothing higher than us.”
The demon's nature was ignorant, darkened, and he did not need anything more. He was completely satisfied with the thought that he was God, that by Being one should be understood the body. But the deity had a purer nature. At first it fell into the error of thinking that the Self is the body, and that it is God, and that therefore it is necessary to keep it strong, healthy and well dressed and to give it all kinds of bodily pleasures. But after a few days it came to the conclusion that the sage, his teacher, could not think so, that he meant something higher. So it returned to the sage and asked:
- Teacher, did you teach me that this body is Existence? I see that all bodies die, but Existence cannot die.
The sage answered:
- Find him; you are It.
Then the deity thought that what the sage meant were the vital forces operating in the body. But after some time it was found that if it eats, then these vital forces remain strong, but when it starves, they weaken. It again went to the sage and asked:
- Teacher, do you think that Existence is vital forces?
The sage answered:
- Find him yourself; you are It.
The deity returned, thinking that perhaps Being means intelligence. But after a few days it came to the conclusion that thoughts are so different: sometimes good, sometimes bad, that the mind is too changeable to be a Being. It once again came to the sage and said:
“Teacher, I don’t think that even the mind can be a Being; is that what you meant?
“No,” answered the sage. - You are It; find it yourself.
The deity left and finally realized that, undoubtedly, it is the Being, the highest of all minds, the one who did not have birth and death, that which a sword cannot pierce, nor fire burn, that air cannot dry up, nor water dissolve; a beginningless, unborn, unchangeable, intangible, omniscient, omnipotent Being who is neither body nor mind, but is superior to both. Then it was satisfied, and the poor demon, due to his attachment to the body, never learned the truth.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru