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Mahavira

Parable about the Creator
of the Crossing

A boy named Vir was sitting next to his grandfather and listening to his stories about ancient heroes.

More than everything else, Vir loved this time, when they stayed alone together and his grandfather told Vir ancient legends and tales.

“Tell me about the Creator of the Crossing!” — Vir asked. It was his favorite story. He had heard it many times, but again and again asked his grandfather to narrate it. It seemed to him that this story someday might become reality. And right here, to this room in their home, the Immortal Teacher would come and say: ‘Vir, now it’s your turn to become a Hero!’”

Grandpa looked affectionately at his grandson:

“You know this legend by heart! Well, never mind, listen:

“Once upon a time, people and the Great Divine Immortals lived close together.

“People sometimes asked the Immortals about what was needed for them — and the Immortals helped, fulfilling their petitions. It was so, because people asked Them about what they really needed. They did not disturb the Immortals with the fulfillment of their idle desires.

“In those times, the Immortal Divine Teachers taught people to use fire, to write words with the help of letters, to treat diseases and so on.

“But the most important thing that the immortals taught people was how to become like Them, that is, Loving, Wise, Omnipotent, and… Immortal.

“And there were Those among people Who mastered this! They then went to live with Immortals, among Them!

“But there were also people who only wanted to obtain the Great Divine super abilities. They also learned from the Immortal Masters. But they wanted to have the power and authority not for serving the Great Primordial Consciousness, Which has created everything, and not for helping other beings in their development, but for… controlling the processes in the world in accordance with their desires and for their own profit.

“They did not understand that which is most important: the developed perfect Love is what allows the Immortal Masters to live in Unity with the infinite in time and space Great Ocean of the Primordial Consciousness. And only that Consciousness alone has the ability to create everything material in the universe and control it.

“The Great Immortals saw the uncleanness of the intentions of those people and strove to help them to change. But the perverted minds of those people did not want to clear themselves from personal selfish desires. Using the power of consciousnesses, those people wanted, for their own profit, only to control other people. Additionally, they began praising themselves before people, saying that they alone could communicate with the Immortals and pass petitions of people to Them. And they called themselves priests.

“Their influence on people became great. People began to seek advice and help only from them and not from the Immortals.

“The power of those priests strengthened gradually. But they did not have the ability to perceive the Divine, because the Immortals do not cooperate with people who have egocentrism.

“Many bad things were done by those priests to strengthen their own power and profits. But the saddest thing of all was that they replaced the real learning from the Divine Teachers with rituals…

“Then the Immortals decided that They should not help people anymore, as They had done it before. Let people themselves be convinced of their own wrong choices on their own mistakes.

“And the Perfect Immortals moved away from the material plane and separated the invisible Divine world from the material world, in which embodied mortals lived. The Immortals began living where sights of ordinary people could not penetrate.

“From that moment, the Immortal Teachers helped only kind and loving incarnate people. The rest were given to their own difficult destinies, which they themselves chose, allowing priests to lead their lives…

“A lot of misery and suffering was in the material world where embodied people lived… And this encouraged some of them to start finding the way out of this situation.

“… So, once a kind and strong young man decided to help those who were unhappy by all means! He intended to return the opportunity to communicate with the Divine Immortal Masters to those people! He wanted to find the way into the Abode of the Immortals, into the world of the Primordial Consciousness, so that all people could traverse this Path after him and obtain the highest happiness in the Abode of all the Perfect Ones!

“His aspirations were so pure and sincere that the Divine Immortals sent the Divine Guide to meet him, since those who have not learned yet to see and orientate themselves in the subtle worlds can’t find the Path to this Abode on their own. And those who have not become like the Divine Immortals cannot enter there.

“This Immortal Divine Guide was as old as the Earth itself. But His body was young and full of strength. He carried in Himself Love, Joy, and Peace — and radiated them to all directions. The Divine Light of the morning sun streamed from His body.

“The young man asked the Immortal Guide to show him the Path to the Abode of the Perfect Ones so that he could open this Path to other people.

“The Immortal asked the young man:

‘Do you agree to spend the rest of your life traversing this Path?’

‘Yes!’ — the young man answered.

‘Will you not become scared when you face difficulties that await everyone who dares to transform himself of herself from a usual man — into the Man-Hero, who gradually becomes Divine by the qualities of the soul?’

‘I will not be scared,’ — the young man answered. — ‘And even if the fear becomes too strong for me, I will remember about those who are unhappy for whom I decided to overcome this Path. I will find strength to overcome the fear!’

‘Will you not become proud, obtaining power and knowledge? Will you not want to control people instead of helping them?’

‘If I wanted to learn to control people, I would become a disciple of the priests instead of seeking the Path!’

‘You answer well! I’ll try to teach you!

‘First, you need to learn to be the soul consisting only of caring love! It is so, because the Divine subtlety can grow only from this state!

‘To traverse the entire Path to the attainment of Divinity, you should grow as the soul and reach an enormous size that allows containing inside yourself the whole Earth and much more!

‘And then you should learn to dissolve yourself completely in the Mergence with the Greatest Divine Power!’

“… For many years the young man had been mastering the stages of the Path under the guidance of the Immortal Master. He passed through many tests. His practice resulted in that transformation of the soul which allows penetrating into the subtlest worlds — up to the Abode of all the Perfect. He started learning to enter that sacred Abode where the Divine Consciousnesses live in the Great Unity, forming the Great Whole!

“And when his training was close to its end, he asked the Immortal Guide:

‘Now let me teach this Path to all people!’

‘Good! But before you go to people, build the crossing over that turbulent river!’ — the Immortal Guide said. — ‘I’ll wait for you on the opposite bank. Come to Me! And then I’ll tell you how to create a Spiritual Crossing, by using which, people can move from the bank of sansara, where suffering is, to the Bliss of Nirvana, where only One Creating Ocean of God — the Primordial Consciousness of the universe — is!’

“They came to the powerful mountain river that was carrying its waters, seething over the stones. This river was wide. And even in that place where the water reached the knees, the strength of the flow could knock one down, but there were also sites much deeper, with waterfalls and whirlpools.

‘Here you should build a crossing!’

“With these words, the Immortal Guide raised a huge fragment of rock to the air. The stone, having become weightless by His Will, was floating duteously through the air, while the Immortal Guide was correcting slightly its trajectory with His hands. Then He determined the place where the stone should be put and returned its weight to it. After this, He did the same with the next stone…

‘Well, like this, more or less, you need to act’ — the Immortal Guide said, observing His own work. — ‘But you will have to do this using only your personal power and not the Divine One. I’ll wait for you on the other side of the river until you finish building the crossing. And then I’ll teach you the laws according to which you can help people.

‘While you are helping people, you will learn to interact with the Great United Power, through Which everything in the material world can be created and transformed.’

“The Immortal Guide made two steps on the newly laid stones — and then His body became weightless. Barely touching the foam of the rapids with His feet, He easily crossed the river. On the other bank, He disappeared in a flash of Light…

“… The young man began to work.

“At first, it went easily, because nearby there were many flat stones suitable for the construction of the crossing. And the flow close to the bank was weak as well. This is why, he did all the work in the shallow water very quickly.

‘Why did the Immortal Guide ask me to do this work instead of teaching me to make stones weightless and move them with the easiness He had?’ — he thought… At that moment he stumbled on a slippery underwater stone, was washed away by the rapid stream and carried far down the river…

‘It seems that I have to be more careful,’ — the young man smiled, realizing his mistake. Having come out of the water, he returned to the place of the construction.

“He began his work anew.

“Once again he took a large flat rock, from which he wanted to make the next step, and walked.

“He easily passed along the way that he had already done before, confidently feeling with his feet every firm footing.

“Thus he reached the spot where he had slipped and had been washed away by the stream. Yet this time, he did not lose his balance and was able to place the next solid footing.

“… The young man worked long and diligently. More than once he stumbled and was carried away by the flow far down the river… Not once he struck against the rocks. Not once he swallowed water. In spite of all this, his determination did not leave him.

“Every time he fell, he stood up and continued his work. At last, he built the solid crossing!

“And when he finished, the great joy filled him: the path over the turbulent river in the world of matter was built! ‘Now the Immortal Guide will tell me how to explain to people the Path towards the Great Ultimate Happiness, that is, how to cross the ʻturbulent riverʼ and pass from the sansara to the achievement of Bliss of Nirvana!’

“… Right beside him, the Immortal Teacher appeared.

‘You have worked well: you crossed the river yourself. But your crossing turned out to be… too easy…

‘The spiritual Path is the Crossing from the material world to the world of the Primordial Consciousness. This Path should not give the possibility to those who do not want to walk it very much, but are just full of curiosity, to traverse it without effort…

‘That person who hasn’t worked by himself or herself but received everything ready, who hasn’t stumbled and hasn’t fallen — will not find the wisdom and strength!

‘The one who passed the Spiritual Crossing should only leave marks, milestones, on this Great Path in order to help others.

‘Look how many different ‘anchors’ and ‘ropes’ exist that do not allow the embodied people to break away from the world of sansara! Someone has a beloved one who does not want or cannot traverse this Path, but this person cannot leave them. Someone has unfinished worldly affairs. Someone has a desire to traverse this Path but is too scared. There are also those who really want this but are too weak; they will not reach the other bank because of lack of power…

‘Yet no one should remain in the middle of the Spiritual Crossing! It is like standing for a long time in the middle of the turbulent stream of this river! It is necessary to move forward or, at least, backward!

‘Everyone who started making the Great Crossing but then realized that it would be impossible now, will come back to the bank of sansara, being enriched with good experience, i.e. the knowledge about the traversed part of the Path.

‘To prepare people so that they can master, at least, a part of the Crossing is also significant. This, too, will be one of the tasks of your Service.

‘It is very important, at least, to let people know that the Crossing exists and that it’s possible to overcome the whole Path! Then their efforts, even the smallest ones, will make sense for their self-transformation!

‘But only that one who is not afraid of difficulties and who starts again and again overcoming the Path will be able to use the Crossing created by you!

‘What does it mean ‘to master the Crossing’? This means to know all the steps of the Path.

‘In this case, if one stumbles, one can repeat again and again what was already cognized, strengthening one’s previous achievements until the soul finally transforms itself into the Great Love, and the Fire of Nirvana becomes the Fire of one’s new Divine Spiritual Heart. After this, such a Heart will serve other seekers as the Gate to the Primordial Abode of all the Perfect!

‘Now I’ll go. I have finished My work: I have explained to you the Eternal Path that allows perfecting the souls. But you will stay here, in the material world, and learn to help people.

‘You too are becoming the Creator of the Crossing. And you have to find and prepare those people who can overcome the whole Path! You will lead them as I led you!’

“After these words, the Immortal Guide disappeared. It was as if the tiny particles of His body vanished in the air…

“And the new Creator of the Crossing went to people to teach them what he had cognized.