The game of patience

With a head full of questions, the devotee reached the Master’s abode. He wants to know who created the universe, what is the date, and the mysteries of before birth, and after death.

Devoted to finding great knowledge that would remove his ignorance, he reads the scriptures, and performs service. But despite his zeal, everyday seems normal. It has been three months now, and there are no flashes of light, and no miracles are happening. Every day, his impatience grows, till one day he could bear it no longer.

 “I have read the scriptures every day, and I have lived in service of others,” he tells his Master, “but I feel no sense of enlightenment. I still do not know how the future will unfold.” His Master smiled, plucked a rosebud from a bush, and handed it to the devotee. “Unfold it, but do not tear the petals,” the Master said.

The surprised devotee could not understand how this will impart knowledge, but he had great respect for his Master, and thought that the answer may lie at the core of the bud. And so he starts to unfold the rosebud, trying to keep the petals intact. It wasn’t long before he realized that this was not just difficult, but perhaps impossible. The torn petals fell to the ground.

 “Only time will open these petals, my child, because knowledge cannot be snatched from nature,” said the Master. “Look after your garden, prevent the weeds of greed from overwhelming the rose bush, water it with service to all, and let the light from scriptures shine on it. Only the bud knows its secret, and in time, it will flower and show its secret by itself.”

“Be patient.”

Guru Granth Sahib says:

The day and date and season (of creation) are not known to anyone,

The Creator who created this creation – only He Himself knows.