Water displays a perfect example of purity
and the taste of tastelessness.
Earth displays a perfect example of patience,
forgiveness,
supporting others
without expectation of gratitude.
The wind blows everywhere,
over the flower-beds, deserts, marshes,
palaces and prisons,
without being attached to any of them,
without preference or dislike to anyone.
The all-pervading space displays the perfect example
in which exist clouds, stars, planets, dust-storms,
but it is not touched by any of them.
So is the Self,
which pervading all bodies of men and animals,
of saints, sages, kings, madmen, sinners,
and paupers, is untainted by any of them.
The moon displays a perfect example of perfection
in spite of its waning and waxing,
which do not exist in it.
So does the Self ever perfect,
in spite of its seeming imperfections.
The sun through its rays absorbs water from the earth,
only to give it back in a cool and pure form.
So does a sage take the things of the world, not for his own sake,
but in order to give them back in a richer and better form.
Though thousands of rivers empty themselves into the sea,
yet it remains within its limits;
So remains undisturbed the sage though objects
of all kinds pour themselves into him.
And from the cobbler comes the example of attention.
In a certain town there lived cobbler,
who devoted his full attention to his occupation.
Once he was sewing some leather shoes, when the king
and his procession went by the street.
He was so attentive to his work that he knew nothing
of the king’s passing,
and when they asked him
how he liked the music of the procession
he said, ‘What procession? When did it pass?’
Water,
Earth,
Wind,
Space,
Moon,
Sun,
Sea
and the Cobbler.
Observe in quietitude,
Truth is all around,
all pervasive,
all encompassing.