Muddy Mind And Pure Consciousness

Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 15:33

A beautiful Buddhist story illustrates the state of pure consciousness.

Buddha was once on His way to deliver a sermon in a village with His disciple Ananda. On their way, they crossed over a small canal and proceeded further. It was a hot day and the sun was blazing. Buddha felt thirsty and rested under a tree.

He asked Ananda to get Him some water to quench His thirst from the canal that they had just crossed. In the meantime, a bullock cart had crossed the canal making the water muddy.

Ananda on finding the water muddy returned back to Buddha saying that the water was not clean.
Buddha insisted Ananda to wait for sometime until the water becomes clean and then fetch some to quench His thirst.

So when Ananda went back he still found the water not good enough to drink. He waited for a while and went into meditation.

After his meditation, Ananda was surprised to find the mud settled and the crystal clear water fit to be drunk.
Osho says that same is the case with our minds too. Thoughts are like the mud which pollutes the consciousness. Our consciousness gets cleared the moment we cease paying attention to thoughts, cooperating with them, analysing them and bothering them. It is only then that silence descends in pure consciousness.