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The Pool of Wisdom
THE POOL OF WISDOM
OMMEN CAMP FIRE TALK, 1926
We have all of us, I think, been for a while in that scented garden, enjoyed its shades and been happy. We have known what it is to be really happy. We have tasted that Happiness. Even though it were for a brief moment, we have lived in that delight, in that ecstasy, in that serious joyousness, which comes when we really dwell in that abode.
When once we have tasted of that fountain of Wisdom, when we have listened to that voice of Truth, all things -sorrows and pains, such as we feel when we part- disappear, because each minute and each second, every day and every year, we are creating that garden around us, wherever we may be. We are giving to others that beauty, and we are sharing with others that nectar of the Gods.
When once we have enjoyed that Kingdom, we must share that Happiness with others. We must realize that there is only one Truth, one Abode. When we have really and sincerely felt it, the sense of separation, the sense of loneliness, the sense of being different from others, truly vanishes. And when such a thing does happen, as it does to a few people of the world, then they become the standard for the world, the standard by which we compare, the standard to which the world looks.
I should like, when we separate, that each one of you take with you that Happiness in your different ways and by different means. Either you can guard it and keep it for yourself, or, as the perfume-seller, who really enjoys the perfume, take it out and give it to others. Ask them to share in it, to delight in the perfume which you have gathered. But you must first gather it, if you would share it with others.
I have felt an immense desire that you should take away with you the Kingdom of Happiness, that you should know this Happiness, whether it be of your imagination or whether it be of mine.
As long as you have this Happiness within you, as long as you have felt that Truth within you, as long as there is that repose and tranquillity, then you have, in truth, tasted and enjoyed that Pool of Heaven which is Wisdom.
Even though we cannot all at the same time taste the same thing in the same way, yet there is the certainty that we shall all drink at the same fountain.
We must develop a wise passiveness, a wise tranquillity, a wise repose. Wise passiveness does not mean stagnation, for while waiting you can prepare the ground. As the laborer prepares the earth, so must you prepare your garden. Pull out all the little weeds, remove all the little stones that spoil your garden and make it ugly. Destroy all those things that do not produce, kill out all those things that hinder the growth of the flower, annihilate the ugliness, the pettiness, the trivialities that exist in such gardens as are created by a small soul. If you can do this, then you will develop a wise passiveness.
When the song is sung, when the real voice of Truth has spoken, you will have within you the responsive soul and that responsive voice, so that we can all sing together, so that our song can fill the air, so that our song can fill the hearts of men.
When we have sung such a song, when we have felt such a Truth together, then there is no separation, then there is no idea that you are giving and I am taking, or that I am giving and you are taking. We all live in that garden, we all feel alike; and how then can there be any separation, any idea that we are different from each other? And this sense, this quality of wise passiveness -if I may so call it- gives a different tone, a fresh breath, and a new understanding.
Because you possess this passiveness, this tranquillity, whatever is done to you -whatever wrong, whatever hurt, whatever mischief- you will develop your heart and your mind along the right path. You do not harden, grow bitter, or become suppressed.
For us, however different we may be, however wise we may be, and however small or big we may be, in that garden there is no comparison, there is no difference, nor is there that struggle born of individuality, because we have lost that sense of separateness. As long as we hear that music, as long as we are all breathing that scented air, we forget, we lose the illusion that our own self is much more important than another's.
You must become joy-intoxicated, you must become God-like, in this garden.
You must then come into this Garden of Happiness, into this Kingdom where there is Truth, where there is Eternity. When once you have entered it, you can always go forth, you can always return.
Even though there be sorrow, even though there be pain, you can always have within you that bubbling spring of well-being, of contentment born of divine discontent. You can be the bringer of Truth to those who have not tasted those ecstasies that are found on the heights.
We must develop naturally -neither struggle nor strive unnaturally. As long as we possess the inner Voice, all the qualities which we think we should have and for which we are struggling will come naturally.
People worry over their misfortunes, their little angers, and little sins. It does not matter, for they have no value if there is this inner sense of greatness, of beauty, of perfection. If you possess that absolutely, nothing in the world can shake your foundations. You can build story upon story, you can climb nearer and nearer to the stars and the sky, but you can never be shaken and your foundation will never weaken.
You must enter this Kingdom, you must drink at this Pool of Heaven, you must all come to my garden, and you must all cast away your ignorance, your little knowledge, when you enter this garden. Those things that you consider important, those things that you hold as of value, have no reality, cannot exist there.
If you prepare wisely, if you consider, and if you give thought, then you will hear this song eternally. You will live eternally with Him, you will be His eternal companion.
Do you not see that it makes life much more beautiful, gives a freshness, a tranquillity, to every moment of the day? Such a Kingdom and the conquering of it is worth all struggles, all pains and all joys.
We must go out and sing this song to those who have not heard it, who unfortunately have not ears to hear it. In order to do so, you must come into this garden; you must gather with full arms the flowers in it; you must take them out and give. You cannot help giving when you possess. It is because you do not possess that you do not know how to give. Once you have, you can always give.
Let us all go to those heights where there is perfection, where there is beauty, where there is the sense of oneness, of being really friendly, really affectionate. Then you do not worry about anything in life, then you do not struggle, then you do not suffer pain -though these things have a meaning, they drop off like the drop of water from the lotus leaf. Like the lotus, you develop from impurity, and come out of the mire into freshness, into cleanliness, into beauty. Such is the Kingdom of Happiness.
But you must have the Voice, that pure Voice which will lead you, that true intuition which will guide you. And when you have that, then you yourself become part of Him, then in yourself is His abode.
There lies the beauty of your whole life; there lies the whole vision. And you do not want greater Kingdoms to conquer.
When once you have Him, and when once He speaks, when once He looks through your eyes, you know what it means when the wind sings through every tree, when every star shines and every human being loves.
You are everything, and He is in you.
Therefore I would urge you, I would beg you to come. I would exchange, if I could, my heart, my mind, for yours, because I have this and some of you have it not.
When once you have it, you want to share; because then you cannot see or tolerate sorrow or pain in others. This desire is a natural thing, a beautiful thing, nothing supernatural, and nothing extraordinary. Because you are the source of things, because you are the creator of things, you want to alter, to create, to make those things that are ugly, beautiful, those people that are unhappy, happy.
For this reason it is worthwhile to climb, worthwhile to struggle and to attain the Kingdom of Happiness.
You must come into that Garden, you must live there eternally, you must feel, grope, struggle incessantly, until you are there. And then you cease to struggle, and then you exist like a flower in the sunshine, giving forth beauty, comfort and scent to all the passers-by.
For this reason, He comes to teach you how to attain that Kingdom of Happiness.
The feeling of separateness, the feeling of being different, does not exist. What does matter is that all should be happy; all should taste of this fountain. Such is the ideal, such is the Kingdom.
I often feel that we are not sufficiently joyous within ourselves. We are burdened by so many things in life -by our families, by our friends, by our worries, and by our passing thoughts. When once you have unlocked the gate that leads to the Kingdom of Happiness, then all those little things fade away. You do not worry about virtues, you do not worry about sin, you are there in the center of light, at the source of Happiness, you are there to bring and to give comfort.