The Equation of Consciousness & The True Self | Swami Sarvapriyananda @ South Park Commons · Vedanta Talks - Swami Sarvapriyananda · Radar

The Washerman and the Diamond0:58 – 2:55

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

0:58

Sri Ramakrishna used to tell this parable about the washerman and the diamond.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:03

So there's this traditional Indian washerman.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:05

Those who are from India, you've heard the term dhobi.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:08

So he collects your dirty laundry, goes to the riverbed and washes it and scrubs it dry with a rock, and then cleans it and gets it back to you.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:16

And this poor washerman, he found a diamond.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:19

Um, he didn't know what a diamond was.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:21

He had never seen one in his life, but he knew this was not an ordinary rock.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:25

E-every facet of this story is fascinating, I mean, because, uh, it's connected to our, um, topic today of consciousness.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:33

He didn't know what it was, but he thought it was a particularly pretty rock, and he used it to scrub dirty laundry.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:40

And then-- But he was still curious, so he took it to the vegetable seller, his friend, and asked him, "What's this?" The vegetable seller also was not all that mu-much more educated or wise in the ways of the world, so he also didn't know what it was.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:54

But he said, "It's a pretty rock.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

1:55

I'll give you 10 rupees for it." Um, and the-- luckily, this washerman didn't sell it to him.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:03

You know, like you take consciousness to the physicalist who'll say, who'll say, "Yeah, the consciousness, I do know what it is.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:10

It's a product of the brain.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:11

Don't sell it to him.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:13

[chuckles] He'll, he'll shortchange you." He took it to different people.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:17

Long story short, finally, the washerman took the diamond to a diamond merchant who said, "Wow, this is the largest, uh, most amazing raw diamond that I've ever seen.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:27

I'll give you a million rupees for it." And so the washerman's poverty was, uh, ended.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:33

He found out the real value of the diamond, and that's the story.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:36

The idea being we all have this diamond already.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:40

Vedanta, the particular school of philosophy we, we're talking about today, tells us about what we already have.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:46

It just introduces us to its depth.

Swami SarvapriyanandaGuest

2:50

Just like that washerman, not only do we already have consciousness, we are already using it all the time.