To Realize Him

There was once a king whose prime minister was very intelligent and spiritually inclined. One day, the king asked him, “How can God be realized? I wish to see him face to face.”

The prime minister replied, “The Lord himself comes down in this world in the garb of a perfect Master and interacts with human beings. If you wish to see God face to face, search for a perfect Master.”

The king voiced his doubts, “The Lord has an army of angels and many other means at his disposal, so why would he himself come down in the form of a human being? Where is the necessity?”

“I’ll give you the answer in a few days’ time,” he replied.

The prime minister devised a plan and set out to work on it. He ordered a doll which bore a close resemblance to the king’s son. When it was delivered to him, he gave it to the son’s maid-servant with specific instructions. Then he went out to meet the king, who was taking a walk near the lake in the palace. After a while, the maid, who was carrying the doll, passed by at a reasonable distance so the king would notice her.

After some time, while engaged in conversation with the prime minister, the king heard a huge splash in the lake. He turned around, only to see the maid in total distress and ‘the child’ in the lake. Without a second thought, the king ran and jumped into the lake to save ‘the child’. As he came up panting, the prime minister asked, “Sir, why did you jump in to save the child when you have an army of guards and servants all around you?”

“How can I just stand around and watch my child drowning?” exclaimed the king.

“Your majesty, when the Lord sees his souls yearning in separation for him, he too cannot bear to see them in pain; so he himself comes down to earth in the garb of a human being.”