A lesson from a humble grater

Once introduced to our Upanishad texts, the profound teachings there should ideally become our only purpose and way of life. Even the basic functions of inhalation and exhalation constitute the very essence of Vedanta when we learn to appreciate the one and only Ultimate Reality as the substratum for everything.

My wife asked for help with her kitchen chores and set the grater in front of me. With a raw beetroot in my hand that needed grating for a salad dish and staring at the grater, I realised that it was a tool at my disposal. At that instant, I recognised that this thought originated in my mind. But then isn't that mind a tool for all beings to guide one through various functions?

If two tools were placed in front of us on the table, would one tool recognise the other? The tools, being inanimate objects, do not have the consciousness to recognise each other. But how did this mind, only a tool, recognise another tool sensed by my eye? In this case, how did the mind recognise the grater?

It occurred to me then that the mind is drawing its power from some other source. What is that source, and where is it located? The Vedanta teachings came to my rescue to provide affirmation that there is power inside all beings. This power is a source of light, or, should we say, light itself. It shines on everything—the mind, this body, and the objects around us in this world.

Sunlight reflecting from the surface of the grater as well as the beetroot in my hand helped me see and recognise them both during the day. Artificial light from a bulb will do the same during the night, or if this is outside, then it is in the moonlight that we recognise the grater. Remember, the moonlight is also reflecting the sunlight. The experience of seeing for us is in the presence of light.

But don’t I see the grater and the beetroot with my eyes closed? Adi Shankaracharya’s Ekashloki “kim jyothistavabhanu" that was taught in the class elucidated that the Ultimate Reality as one’s own source of inner light dawned on me and woke me up from my reverie.

A thought process triggered by Grater is the greatest!