There is an ancient tale which tells of a famous and ravishingly beautiful prostitute who used to sit in her balcony and tempt passersby.
Once she noticed an old sadhu mendicant standing below and staring at her beautiful form. He was totally lost in admiration and couldn’t take his eyes off her. After a while the lady returned to her room. When she came back to her balcony she saw that the old saint was still there with that same gaze of wonderment.
The lady then sent her maid down and invited the revered old man to her dwellings. Welcoming him with great respect and prostrations she could not help asking as to why, at this ripe old age he was behaving in such a way.
Not only his age, but he was also insulting his saffron garments with his behaviour. The answer given by the sacred sadhu is unique to the Vedantic tradition of Hindu thought.
The saint replied, “You have misunderstood, dear girl. It is not at you that I marvel, but through your beauty I have been adoring the Artist that created this beauty.” We are so preoccupied with the beauteous form of the world of objects that we do not see the reality, its creator.
There is a diviner truth behind the awesome, charming forms that we see. If you watch your reflection (ego) in a mirror you rarely see the mirror. The reality is the mirror, the form is just an unreal reflection, and though the mirror is right in front of you, you don’t see it.
The truth is that the Reflection though unreal is not possible without the mirror! A Sufi saint has very aptly put it:
“Apna he Aksa pesh-e-nazar dekhte rahe
Aaeena rubaru tha, magar dekhte rahe.”
Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.