QUOTE

At the gate of a grand, new palace that was being built, there appeared a beautiful blue boy with a lot of children around him, just admiring his beauty. The porter at the gate of the new palace went running in to the king god Indra, and Indra said, "Well, bring in the boy." The boy was brought in, and Indra, sitting on his throne said, "Young man, welcome. And what brings you to my palace?" "Well," said the boy with a voice like thunder rolling on the horizon, "I have been told that you are building such a palace as no Indra before you ever built." Surprised, Indra said, "Indras before me, young man— what are you talking about?"

The boy says, "Indras before you. I have seen them come and go, come and go. Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. And Indras? There may be wise men in your court who would volunteer to count the drops of water in the oceans or the grains of sand on the beaches, but no one would count those Brahmin, let alone those Indras."

While the boy was talking, an army of ants paraded across the floor. The boy laughed when he saw them, and Indra's hair stood on end, and he says to the boy, "Why do you laugh?" The boy answered, "Don't ask unless you are willing to be hurt."

Indra said, "I ask. Teach." And so the boy points to the ants and says, "Former Indras all. Through many lifetimes they rise from the lowest conditions to the highest illumination, and then down they go again."