The Rock

Source: Speaking Tree - 26Dec2010

 

The Rock

 

IN ancient India there lived a sculptor. He was renowned for the life-sized statues of elephants he sculpted. With their trunks curled high, their tusks thrust forward, their thick legs trampling the earth, these pachyderms seemed to trumpet to the sky. One day, a king came to see these magnificent works and commissioned some for his palace.

 

Struck by their beauty, he asked the sculptor, "What is the secret of your art?". The sculptor replies, "Great King, Once I quarry a gigantic piece of granite from the banks of the river with the help of many men, I have it set here in my courtyard. For a long time, I do nothing but observe this block of stone and study it from every angle. I focus all my concentration on this task and don't allow anything or anybody to disturb me. At first, I see nothing but a huge and shapeless rock sitting there, meaningless, indifferent to my purpose, utterly out of place. It seems faintly resentful at having been dragged from its cool place by the rushing waters. Then, slowly, very slowly, I begin to notice something in the substance of the rock. I feel a presence, an outline, scarcely discernible, shows itself to me, though others, I suspect, would perceive nothing. I watch with an open eye and an eager heart. The outline grows stronger. Oh Yes, I can see it! An elephant is stirring in there!"

 

"Only then do I start to work. Days flow into weeks. I use my chisel and mallet, clinging to my sense of that outline, which grows ever stronger. How the big fellow yearns to be out! How he wants to live! It seems so clear now, for I know the one thing I must do: with an utter singleness of purpose, I must chip away at the stone. What remains in the end must be elephant."

 

My grandmother would tell this story. It was her way of telling me that we do not need to bring our real self, our higher self, into existence. It is already there. It has always been there, yearning to be seen and recognized.

- Eknath Easwaran in God Makes the Rivers to Flow