Search of God and Soul

A saint was once sitting under a tree and was deeply immersed in his prayers concentration. A young boy came near him, bowed and did namaskar to him. He said "Maharaj! I have come from very far in search of you, I have been wondering around for days asking people about you and finally I have come to you. I am very tired and desperate to know about God and Atma. I have been to many religious places, met many priest and saints, but none could satisfy my this strong desire to know about the Almighty. I could not find God anywhere and I don't know what is Atma and Paramatma. Please do not disappoint me. Please quench my this thirst. Please help me to get darshan of Paramatma."

The saint looked at him from top to bottom and was observing him deeply to know whether he has the true desire or this is just a temporary wish. The saint replied "friend, it is very cold and winter time, the sun is also about to set and it is getting dark and the fire from this dhooni has extinguished and only the ashes are left. Now take these burnt wooden logs, search for any spark left in the ashes and with the help of the spark(angaar) lit the fire again. Our conversation will last for whole night, we will take the heat from the fire and I will go on answering your questions."

There was heap of ashes lying there and the young boy took a stick and went on searching for any spark left in the ashes. Then he told the saint that there no sparks left in this heap of ashes, the fire has been totally turned into ashes. The saint said "Pay more attention, concentrate more" The boy tried again still he could not find the spark. The saint said "Pay more attention on the fire, not on ashes. From here only you can lit fire".

The boy got frustrated and said "when there is no spark, how can I search it?"

The saint politely said "give me the stick" He then went on digging the ashes. The boy said that you are wasting your time. But after one hour the saint could find a dim spark and told the boy that now you can see a spark. With this spark I will lit the fire and feel the heat to protect from this cold winter.

The saint then made the youth understand and realize that "As you were in a haste to search a spark from the heap of ashes and did not pay much attention and was in a hurry, same way to find Atma and Paramatma you have to work hard and have patience. God is within you, in your HEART, but you have no patience or least bothered to find HIM. You are in a hurry. Have patience God will come to you if you truly love and search him. Like when you dig a well, at some places the water comes out after little effort, some place it takes hours to find water, some places days and some place like deserts sometimes you cannot find water because you become restless and stop taking pains and efforts.

The saint then told the boy "Atma is definitely with us ,it is there within us and even God(Paramatma) is certainly within us. It is only the effort that counts. Some get is with little effort, some people have to struggle very hard to find him. But if you determined and strongly desire, you will definitely find HIM.