Who are you? - A Story

There once was a young student who had begun down the path of self discovery. One day, while sitting with his Master, the Master asked him to go out and bring him back something that revealed who the pupil was. The student was not sure what the Master had meant by this, but never the less, head out to the nearest village in search of something that would show his master who he was.

While in the village, the student found an old man who did  portraits. He asked the man if he would paint him a portrait of him to bring back to his master. The old man did so, for a price. The student returned to his master with the portrait and said,

"Here Master, this is me."

 The wise master looked at the portrait for a moment, then with a shake of his head spoke,

 "No. I do not see you there. This is not you.."

The student was puzzled by this, but headed back to the village to find something else that would reflect who he was. After searching for awhile, he found a man who was taking photographs of people. The technology was very new, and was very expensive, but the Student wanted to please his Master, so he asked the man to take a photo of him. The student then returned to his Master and said,

"Here Master, surely this is me.."

The Master looked at the picture for a moment, and though it was impressive, the wise Master shook his head and spoke;

"No. I do not see you there. This is not you.."

Frustrated (and broke), the student gave up on his search and retired to his home to sit in stillness and meditation, hoping to reach an awareness of who he really was. During his spiritual practice, he slipped deep in to the stillness of his heart, and connected with the Source of his Spirit, with God. He was filled with great Love and Joy, and these experiences stayed with him.

The old Master came to his house and asked the student to walk with him. The pair headed in the direction of the small village that was near by, and as they walked, the Student noticed a small child trying to reach an apple that was out of reach, piled with other apples in a cart that were for sale. The student, without thought, moved towards the child and handed him the apple out of his reach, and even offered to pay for it (even though he had little money left).

The small boy was very happy, and hugged and thanked the student for his kindness. This made the Student even more filled with Love and Joy. And in that moment, the wise old master placed his hand on the students shoulder, turned and faced him, and said;

"There you are."

Aum.