To aid his devotee’s progress, a teacher sends him to stay with a simple family. It is rumoured in the neighbourhood that God himself stays with the humble occupants of this thatch roof dwelling. The devotee spends a day with the children in the family, a brother and sister, working with them on the farm. The sister is simple, and quiet in her work. The brother has an ash-smeared body, wears the marks of a yogi, and says wise words, and quotes the scriptures:
How rare is such a person, who casts off duality,
Killing it, he attains Raja Yoga, the Yoga of meditation and success.
In the evening, as they return home, they find a bag of gold lying in their path. The yogi brother starts crying, and exclaims, “Oh God, why do you still test and tempt us by throwing this gold on our path?” Now, the sister starts crying, and exclaims, “Oh brother, I am very sad. You still recognise gold and dust as distinct items!” The devotee had learnt his lesson:
By mere words, Yoga is not attained.
Yoga is not the ear-rings, and not the shaven head. Yoga is not the blowing of the horn.
Remaining unblemished in the midst of the world – this is the way to attain Yoga.
Sri Guru Nanak Dev expresses the existence of a yogi in the world by calling it the kohl (anjan or kaajal) in the eye. The kohl is in the eye, but it is so smooth that it causes no discomfort, as though it does not exist. It lends a great sense of beauty to the eye, without becoming the eye. The kohl and the eye come together, are distinct, but become one.
The Universe that we see and think about is His creation, and yet He is so smoothly a part of it, that we find it difficult to see Him! No wonder Saint Kabeer says:
Says Kabeer, the Lord is the only true Yogi in the world!