Sri M said...

I quote another Sufi teacher called Hakim of Sinai, from a book called ‘The Walled Garden of Truth’: “When you arrive at the sea, you do not talk of the tributaries”. Ramakrishna Paramahansa put it as a simple story. He said, “Till the food is served, people will be chatting with each other. Once the food is served, then you can only hear, “slurp, slurp!” When food is there, people don’t talk much. There is a lot of talk when there is no food, especially before it is served. The talk is like the tributaries and the sea is like the food. When you go to the sea - when you arrive at the sea - you no longer discuss the tributaries.