Once Dattatreya was sitting in meditation when King Yadu passed by and saw this young person sitting unaffected, happy and calm.
King Yadu approached Dattatreya and humbly asked, “ How do you remain unaffected by troubles, happy and calm? Why do you always seem to be floating in bliss (happiness)? What has made this possible?”
Dattatreya replied, “O King Yadu I have observed the world closely and obtained a little knowledge from a number of gurus (teachers). Listen carefully! I will tell you what I have learnt.”
Datta said, “O King Yadu, listen carefully to what I learnt from the Sun.”
What happens when the sun shines on the waters in the sea? The water becomes water vapour or like steam. At the appropriate time it returns the water to the earth again in the form of rain.
"Just as the sun sucks up water and gives it back, so too you should accept the objects of the senses without any zeal or greed of getting and keeping or possessing the objects. Gather knowledge from all sources and turn it into wisdom as the sun gathers water from all sources and turns it into life giving rain."
If you see the sun in a pool of water or mirrors, how many suns will you think there are?
"When some people see the sun reflected in water or mirrors, they think that there are many suns. In reality there is only one sun that appears as so many reflected images.
From this I learnt that the same Light that shows me this world, that same Light is showing the world to my friend and everyone. That One Light is called the Atman or the Soul and though it appears as many different persons the Soul is One only.
The soul is thought of as many by people because of the wrong understanding of the mind."
The sun illumines objects in the world but has no relationship with those objects it illumines.
In the same way, the light of consciousness within me illumines the mind, thoughts, intellect, will, ego and sense organs but is separate from these objects that it illumines. When the objects are illumined, knowledge of the objects is known. Only in the light of consciousness there is knowledge.
The sun casts light on objects. A sage reveals the nature of the Self.
