Wisdom Steadies the Mind, but Wisdom Is Given First
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Water can be held in a clay pot — but that pot couldn't even exist without water to shape the clay in the first place.
In the same way, wisdom steadies a restless mind — but that wisdom only comes through a true teacher.
A beautifully exact little analogy. Water is held inside a pitcher — but here's the twist — the pitcher itself couldn't have been made without water (you need water to work the clay). So water is both what the pot holds and what made the pot possible. In just the same way, wisdom steadies the mind — holds its restlessness like water in a pot — but wisdom itself only comes through the Guru. The teacher is like the water that had to be there first: you can't produce the very thing that makes understanding possible all by yourself. Something has to be given to you before you can hold anything at all.
Can you think of something you needed to receive from someone before you could do it yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI