IN THE Vedas, there?s a wonderful story about Narada Muni speaking to a group of brothers who were performing sacrifices to fulfill their father?s orders. Narada wanted to enlighten them, so he said, ?There?s a kingdom where only one man lives, and where there?s a hole from which no one emerges after entering it. A woman there, who?s extremely unchaste, adorns herself with attractive dresses, and her husband lives with her.

?In that place, there?s a river flowing in both directions, a wonderful home made of twenty five elements, a swan that vibrates various sounds, and an automatically revolving object made of sharp razors and thunderbolts.?

Enigmatic words

The brothers understood the enigmatic words of the sage and realized what the allegorical representations meant: The king is the Supreme Being, Who owns everything and everyone. He is the dominator and enjoyer of all.

The woman is the flickering intelligence of every living being. She?s like a prostitute who changes dresses to attract attention. If one becomes the husband of a prostitute, he loses all intelligence. Likewise, if one has impure intelligence, he binds himself to a materialistic life.

River

The river of material nature flows both ways: A person who unknowingly falls in this river is submerged in its waves. But, he also frees himself from the waves if he passes by the banks of knowledge and spirituality.

The swan is the sage who sees the difference between matter and spirit. He accepts the Original Source and speaks gems of wisdom. The revolving object is eternal time, which moves very sharply. A razor is meant to shave hair. But, if it?s carelessly used, it can cause injury. Don?t create problems by misusing your time. Instead, use it to pursue spiritual goals.