Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

will not touch the earth.’ The guru asked him, ‘Where
was he sitting,’ and the disciple replied, ‘On a tree.’
With this the guru said, ‘The tree is part of the
earth and you remain in the tree. The tree and the
earth are not separate. You have separated them by
your mind, but in reality, the tree cannot be separated
from the earth. The tree is the offspring of the earth
and therefore cannot be separated from it. You are
smothered by your imaginary distinctions of pure and
impure, and in this way you would have become very
impure. I gave you a mantra so you would become
pure, in unity with the whole world; but you, by your
imagination are holding onto ideas of separateness,
purity and impurity. Because of that you have become
impure. You are now unfit for the realization that
there is nothing other than Brahman. This is why you
have no self-knowledge and you will not be able to
realize everything is only one absolute Brahman.’
As the disciple listen to this, he understood and
with fear, he climbed down. The guru said, ‘In order to
wipe out your ego you have to live in a pig pen for six
months.’”
Is this not the way of many religions: from the
devoted Christians flailing themselves to obtain purity,
to the strict adherence to the commandments, to the
500 vows of living made by a fully ordained Buddhist
monk, and by the million “shoulds and should nots of