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The Elephant & The Student
A student was meditating with his teacher in India as he did every morning.
It was a meditation about God, about the fact that everything at the deepest
level is God, and about the fact that God in essence is love. During the session
the student believed that he reached a very deep level of God realization in
himself, and felt that he understood the meaning of his teacher's words: "You
must learn to listen to God."
Walking on the narrow path back to his home after the session had ended, the
student continued to meditate ecstatically on the fact that everything is God
and that God is love. Now, coming toward him on the same path but in the
opposite direction was an enormous elephant rhythmically swinging its long trunk
left and right. The elephant driver, sitting high atop the elephant, hollered at
the student, telling him to get out of the way. But the student, immersed deeply
in his realization that everything is God, felt that since God is love no harm
could possibly come to him if he simply stayed on the path and continued
meditating. Meanwhile, the elephant driver was becoming louder and louder as he
shouted for the student to get out of the way.
As you can imagine, the meeting between the student and the elephant was not
very pleasant for the student. The elephant's trunk swept the student roughly
off the path and into a huge thorn bush. The student, realizing not only that he
was bleeding profusely from his fall but that he had also broken his arm, got up
and quickly went to the town healer.
A few days later, the student returned to his teacher with his arm in a cast and
numerous bandages over his body and explained in great detail what had happened.
Then, in an almost accusatory voice the student said: "You told me everything
was God and that God was love. How could this possibly happen to me?"
The teacher, nodding his head, said "yes, it's true that everything is God. But
didn't I also tell you that you had to listen to God?"
"Yes," said the student, "I was listening to God deep in my own heart."
"That's all well and good," the teacher responded. "But didn't you realize that
the elephant driver was God too? He told you to get out of the way."
(Retold by "Dennis Lewis from an ancient Indian story. This version was first
published in the June 2008 issue of The Journal of Harmonious Awakening.
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