Jiva Must Go Back To Shiva

Sri Annamalai Swami

Sometimes small pieces of charcoal from this brazier exploded and jumped out onto the floor. Bhagavan, who never lost an opportunity to give us a spiritual lesson, once used this natural phenomenon to explain the relationship between the mind and the Self.

'This is how the mind comes out of the Self, like a spark jumping out of a fire. In the same way that this piece of charcoal will have no heat if it is kept separate from the fire, similarly, the mind has no power or energy of its own while it imagines that it is separate from the Self.'

Then, picking up the charcoal with a pair of tongs, he put it back in the fire, saying, 'This is jiva. It must be made to go back into Siva, the Self.'