The Avadhuta's Wisdom

Uddhava: "Lord, please continue telling me of the avadhuta's teachers. Each one opens a new door of understanding in my mind."

Krishna: "From the moth, dear Uddhava, the sage learned the danger of being captivated by form. The moth sees the flame and is drawn to its beauty, circling closer and closer until it is consumed. So too is the undisciplined mind destroyed by its attraction to external beauty."

Uddhava: "Yet Lord, is not beauty a reflection of the Divine? Should we not be drawn to it?"

Krishna: "Beauty itself is innocent. It is the grasping mind that creates danger. One may appreciate the flame without flying into it. One may honor beauty without being enslaved by it. The moth's error is not in seeing beauty but in losing itself to what it sees."

Uddhava: "What other creatures taught this wandering sage?"

Krishna: "The honeybee taught him two lessons, one wise and one cautionary. The wise lesson: gather nectar from many flowers without harming any, taking only what is needed. Move from teaching to teaching, tradition to tradition, extracting the essence of wisdom without being sectarian."

Uddhava: "And the cautionary lesson?"

Krishna: "The bee that stores too much honey becomes attached to its hive. When the honey-gatherer comes, the bee cannot abandon its treasure and is destroyed along with it. Accumulate wisdom, not possessions. What you hoard will eventually be taken, and your attachment to it will be your downfall."

Uddhava: "I think of how we cling to our wealth, our homes, even our identities..."

Krishna: "Precisely. From the elephant, the sage learned the peril of the sense of touch. The wild elephant, mighty and intelligent, is captured by hunters who place a female in his path. Intoxicated by desire, he walks into the trap. How many wise beings have been undone by a single uncontrolled sense?"

Uddhava: "The senses are indeed powerful enemies."

Krishna: "They are also powerful allies when properly directed. They become enemies only when they rule the mind instead of serving it. From the deer, the avadhuta learned about the danger of the sense of sound. The hunter plays a sweet melody, and the deer, enchanted, stands still until the arrow strikes. We too can be paralyzed by pleasing sounds—flattery, entertainment, seductive words—until we are easy prey for misfortune."

Uddhava: "Is there any sense that is safe?"

Krishna: "No sense is dangerous in itself; only the attachment to sense objects creates bondage. From the fish, the sage learned about the fatal attraction of taste. The fish swallows the baited hook because it cannot resist the morsel. Its greed for flavor ends its life."

Uddhava: "We are each a moth, a bee, an elephant, a deer, a fish—pulled in different directions by different cravings."

Krishna: "Well observed. But the avadhuta also learned from the prostitute Pingala—one of his most profound teachers."

Uddhava: "A prostitute? How could such a person teach a sage?"

Krishna: "Pingala spent her youth waiting for wealthy customers, decorating herself, hoping each night that a rich man would come. Night after night she waited, sometimes rewarded, often disappointed. Then one evening, after years of this cycle, wisdom suddenly dawned upon her."

Uddhava: "What wisdom?"

Krishna: "She realized that she had been selling her hope to those who could never truly satisfy her. The real source of peace was not outside in any customer, but within herself. She stopped waiting for the world to make her happy and found contentment in solitude. From that night, she slept peacefully for the first time in decades."

Uddhava: "Even she became a guru..."

Krishna: "Everyone is a guru to those with eyes to see. From the child, the sage learned freedom from anxiety—how an infant lives fully in each moment, crying one instant and laughing the next, holding onto nothing. From the young maiden, he learned to work alone in silence—she removed her bangles one by one until only a single bangle remained, making no sound, teaching that where there are many, there is conflict and noise."

Uddhava: "These twenty-four teachers... they are all around us, everywhere, in every moment."

Krishna: "That is the great secret, Uddhava. The guru is not far away on some mountain peak. The guru is in the breath you take, the ground beneath your feet, the ant crossing your path. When you truly understand this, you will never feel alone or without guidance again."