There once was a farmer who toiled in his fields every day from dawn to dusk
to grow enough food to feed his family, his elderly parents,
and all the friends, neighbors, and relatives who often visited his home.
Each harvest was quickly consumed, so he had to cultivate his fields all year round.
This unrelenting burden eventually left him feeling tired and discouraged.
To find some comfort, he went to visit a wise swami who lived nearby.
Stories like this are frequently told by teachers to help their students grasp important Vedantic principles
clearly and correctly.
Most of these stories aren’t found in the scriptures; rather, they’ve been passed on orally
from teacher to student, generation after generation.
This story is an allegorical tale called hiranya nidhi, the hidden treasure.
That treasure, of course, represents atma, our true, divine inner nature,
which is the actual source of happiness, contentment and peace.
The farmer’s toil represents our misdirected efforts to find perfect peace and contentment
through worldly activities, instead of seeking within.
Recognizing the futility of worldly efforts, many turn to the teachings of Vedanta,
just like the farmer sought out the swami for some words of advice.
Our farmer found the swami sitting under a tree, immersed in deep meditation,
and waited patiently until the swami finally opened his eyes.
Seeing the farmer, the swami said, kaise ho, how are you?
The farmer explained his predicament and asked for guidance.
The swami thought for a moment, and then said, rather cryptically, hiryanya nidhi dhuundho,
look for the hidden treasure.
Hidden treasure!
The farmer was excited by the prospect of finding riches concealed somewhere.
With that fortune, he could BUY all the food needed to feed everyone,
so he wouldn’t have to work in the fields so much.
Without waiting for the swami to explain further,
he raced back to his farm to look for the hidden treasure.
He eagerly dug a hole, down into the soil, but found nothing buried there.
He thought that he might be digging in the wrong place,
so he dug another hole,
and another,
and another.
Unfortunately, all the holes he excavated so strenuously produced nothing but dirt,
and one very tired, filthy farmer.
Some spiritual seekers are like that farmer.
They attend just a few lectures in which they learn a new meditation technique
or breath-control exercise.
Then, filled with enthusiasm, they practice it every day.
But, when that practice fails to produce immediate results,
they soon lose their enthusiasm,
and before long, they abandon that practice and steer clear of further lectures on the topic.
Later, they might happen to read a book about kundalini awakenings,
or astral bodies or other exotic things.
Getting inspired, they might try the spiritual practices prescribed in that book.
But after a while, they might abandon that practice as well.
In this way, seekers can dabble in one practice after another,
without exploring the depths of any spiritual tradition, like the farmer who dug many shallow holes.
We must dig deep, so to speak, to discover the truth hidden within ourselves.
To support that inquiry,
the so-called spiritual marketplace offers a wide variety of practices and teachings.
Some of those might turn out to be authentic and powerful,
but others might not be useful at all.
Obviously, we have to be careful and well-informed when browsing in that big market.
Back on the farm,
because the farmer found nothing in any of the holes he dug,
he concluded that the treasure must be buried very deeply in the ground.
So, instead of digging any more shallow holes, he decided to dig one very deep hole,
and to keep digging until the treasure was found.
He picked a new location and began digging once again.
He dug deeper, and deeper, and still deeper, impatient to find the hidden treasure.
You’ve already figured out the problem here.
Digging deep is a good strategy, but it’s crucial to dig in exactly the right place.
The farmer didn’t know the location of the treasure.
He didn’t even know what the treasure was.
Was it gold? Coins? Or precious jewels?
Here, the story shows that we must be perfectly clear about what we seek in spiritual life
and we must know exactly where to seek it.
Only then will our efforts prove fruitful.
Success in spiritual life is not merely a matter of effort.
Our efforts must be properly directed.
In the meantime, while the farmer was furiously digging away,
the swami happened to pass by.
He found the farmer at the bottom of a deep hole,
exhausted and caked with dirt.
Kyaa ho rahaa hain, he said, what’s going on?
The farmer had grown frustrated and disappointed by this time.
He described his fruitless attempts to find the hidden treasure
and he bemoaned his failure to find anything.
The swami, who was normally quiet and composed, roared with laughter.
He said, “The treasure isn’t hidden in the ground;
it’s hidden inside of YOU!"
"The true source of happiness, contentment and peace is concealed in your own heart."
"You have to turn your attention within."
"You have to learn how to practice self-inquiry and meditation to find it."
"Stop all this useless digging."
"Go take a bath in the river, change your clothes,
and then come back so I can show you how to find the hidden treasure.”
The farmer would never find the hidden treasure, no matter how deep he dug,
because he was looking in the wrong place.
In the same way, we will never find perfect peace and lasting contentment
through various kinds of worldly activities, because we too would be looking in the wrong place.
And, like the farmer needed guidance from the wise swami,
we need guidance from a qualified guru.
Our spiritual journeys must be properly directed.
And it’s crucial that the very first steps of those journeys
should start off in the right direction.
This story shows four specific steps
that are essential for starting a successful spiritual journey.
The first of those four steps is: discernment, recognizing the basic problem
that worldly efforts will never lead to perfect peace and contentment,
like the farmer who eventually discerned that digging more holes would be useless,
no matter how deep.
The second step is dispassion,
specifically, giving up further attempts to seek perfect peace and contentment
through worldly efforts,
like the farmer who gave up on digging any more holes.
The third step is a set of six qualities
that must be developed in order to be fully prepared for the spiritual journey ahead,
like the farmer who bathed in a river and changed his clothes
before meeting again with the swami.
The fourth step is having an intense desire for liberation, for enlightenment,
for finding the true source of happiness and contentment within,
like the farmer who had an intense desire to find the treasure that happened to be hidden within himself.
These four initial steps are indispensible for the success of any spiritual journey.
The absence of any one of them virtually guarantees failure.
In addition to those four steps, this story also relates to a well-known verse
found in Shri Shankarachara’s popular text, Vivekachudamani, the Crest Jewel of Discernment.
In verse three, he says,
durlabham trayam evaitad devanugraha-hetukam manushyatvam mumukshutvam
mahapurusha-samshrayah,
There are three gifts so rare that they can be gained only with God's grace:
manushytatvam, birth as a human being,
mumukshutvam, desire for liberation,
and mahapurusha-samshrayah, access to a qualified teacher.
To be born as a human being is rare indeed, though we seldom think about it.
According to the ancient Puranic scriptures, human birth is just one possibility
among 8.4 million different species into which one could be born.
And according to modern science, humans became the world’s most advanced species
only after a complex process of evolution that spanned a staggering 4 billion years.
In either case, human birth blesses us with intellectual, verbal, and creative powers
that no other creatures possess.
Even though human beings are so highly evolved, very few seem to recognize the fact
that conventional worldly efforts to find happiness
can never produce perfect peace and uninterrupted contentment.
A tiny minority perceive the value of seeking the true, inner source of happiness
by undertaking a process of spiritual growth.
Those few people are called mumukshus, those who desire moksha, freedom from suffering.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna laments the scarcity of such people, when he says,
manushyanam sahasreshu kascid yatati siddhaye.
Amongst a thousand people, one might strive for liberation.
According to Sri Krishna, the odds of being a mumukshu are about one in a thousand.
But the fact that you’re watching this right now
suggests that you happen to be that one in a thousand.
The farmer is a another good example of a mumukshu.
He understood that his ongoing efforts to grow crops
would never produce lasting happiness.
That’s why he sought the hidden treasure in the first place.
With the swami’s help, he could eventually find the true source of happiness within himself
and become enlightened, free from suffering.
Then, he could cultivate his fields happily, without feeling overburdened or resentful.
Really speaking, the farmer was a true visionary, even though his efforts were badly misdirected at first.
The third rare gift, in addition to human birth and the desire for liberation,
is access to a qualified teacher or guru,
here called mahapurusha, a great person, an enlightened person.
Many people represent themselves as gurus, even if they lack the qualifications needed for that role.
To make matters worse, it’s often difficult for a student to accurately assess the qualifications of a guru.
For these reasons, finding a proper guru is rare indeed.
Yet, just like the farmer was blessed by the swami’s guidance,
you or anyone else can certainly be blessed by the guidance of a caring, skillful guru
who will lead you to find the priceless treasure hidden within,
the true source of happiness and contentment,
the treasure that is your own divine nature, atma.