The Sugar Bowl
Or: Why some Great Teachers appear to contradict themselves.
Upon careful study of almost any Great Teacher, there are moments when the Teacher appears to offer instruction which contradicts guidance given elsewhere in their teachings.
Example: Many Great Teachers advise spiritual seekers to ‘give up the material trappings of this world’.
Those same Teachers also advise spiritual seekers to ‘realize oneself as a spark of the Divine: omnipotent and infinite in abundance by nature’.
So… which way do we go? A life of asceticism? A life of abundance?
Guidance Is Relative
A few years ago, the opportunity presented itself to ask a monk of the Swami Order about these apparent contradictions.
He smiled benevolently at the question and, as the three of us — the monk, my friend, and I — happened to be standing near a table set for serving chai, there happened to be a bowl of sugar in the center of the table.
Silently, the monk motioned for my friend and I to stand on either side of him, facing the chai table and the bowl of sugar.
He then crossed to the other side of the table so he could look at us directly.
Smiling, he first turned to my friend and said, “Ask me how to get to the bowl of sugar.”
“How do I get to the bowl of sugar?” my friend asked politely.
“Turn right,” the monk replied accurately.
He then turned to me and said, “Ask me how to get to the bowl of sugar.”
“How do I get to the bowl of sugar?” I asked, grinning.
“Turn left,” the monk answered. This answer was also accurate, relative to my position to the sugar bowl.
Behold, A Path
Though any words felt like gross redundancy after the compelling demonstration the monk had just shared with us, he added a further context:
Every soul emits from the Omnipresent One like rays of light from our Sun. No two souls — however similar — can ever be exactly alike; just as no two rays — however near one another — can ever emanate from exactly the same place on the surface of the Sun.
When a soul asks the One how best to find its way Home, the Path appears.
Each soul’s Path is as unique as the soul itself.
Asceticism may be the answer for some — if the current segment of one’s Path calls for the lessons an ascetic life may impart.
Material abundance may be the answer for some — if the current segment of one’s Path calls for the lessons a materially abundant life may impart.
The Great Teacher, having returned to their Home in the One, is in perpetual, unshakeable harmony with the will of the One. Therefore, the answer given in any moment to the seeker is the answer for that individual, and may not always be ‘the right answer’ for all others in all cases.
This is why attuning oneself with the mind & heart of a Great Teacher — one who has rediscovered their true Home — is, essentially, attuning oneself with the mind & heart of the One.
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