The reflection of the moon in the ocean

Whenever the heart is full, everything stops: time, mind, everything comes to a stop, just like a lake which is so silent that there are no ripples anymore. It becomes almost like a mirror; and in the fullness of your heart you are also a mirror. You will be able to see the whole sky reflected in the mirror.

Rabindranath recalled a man who was of the age of his grandfather – very old. He used to come often to Rabindranath’s house, and Rabindranath never felt at ease with the man because he would always ask strange questions. If you are asked those strange questions, either you have to answer them and you know you are wrong, or you have to remain silent, which feels very embarrassing.

And that old man used to laugh whether he answered or not; it did not matter. He used to say to Rabindranath, “Your answer is wrong, your no-answer is wrong. You are known to be a great poet, you are a Nobel prize-winner – and you don’t know anything at all. You have written so many beautiful poems about God: Have you met him? Have you seen him?” And the man and his eyes were so penetrating that it was very difficult to deceive him.

One day Rabindranath had gone to the ocean, which was close by. In the full moon night, he saw in the ocean the reflection of the moon. The reflection was even more beautiful than the moon itself. It happens many times… your photograph may be more beautiful than you are in reality. You can be photogenic. There are many people who are photogenic – their photos come out very beautiful, but if you look at those people they are not so beautiful in reality.

When he was returning, full of the joy of the moonlight and the ocean, he saw small ponds by the side of the road. Just in the morning it had rained, and there were small pools of water, dirty, but the moon was reflected as beautifully in those dirty water pools as it was reflected in the vast ocean.

That opened his eyes to a new truth – that the moon is the moon whether you have a very beautiful mirror or a very ordinary mirror. The reality of the moon remains untouched. For the first time, he felt relaxed about the old man who had been annoying him. And rather than going to his own home, for the first time he went to the old man’s house. His eyes were full of the beauty of the moon, the ocean, the small pools of water. And he said to the old man, “I have seen God.”

The old man hugged him and he said, “I know. I can see it from your face, from your eyes. I can see it from the way you have come to me for the first time. Now I will not harass you; I will not come again. I have been harassing you again and again, because I knew your potential. I would be very happy if you can tell me how you found God.”

Rabindranath said, “Looking at the reflection of the moon in the ocean, and then looking at the many reflections by the side, in dirty water pools. But the moon was not dirty, the reflection was not dirty; it was as beautiful as in the ocean. Just then I remembered you – because I have been irritated with you, I have been annoyed with you. I was blind. I could not see God in you. I only saw God in beautiful people, in flowers, in the moon. But I know now it does not matter who you are. To me now, you are also a reflection of God, and I am grateful to you that you went on poking me, pushing me towards this realization.”

When your heart is full it becomes a mirror, it reflects that which is the truth. And if you see and understand that, time certainly stops. It is a great realization.

Osho, The Rebellious Spirit, Ch 2, Q 1

Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image: wikimedia.org