There is an interesting statement.
Pustak ustak nhi le jati, Pustak untak lejati hai jo ustak le jate hain.
We shall decipher the meaning of this statement in the underlying story.
Once there lived a Guru. Several students visited him. They offered their greetings and asked the Guru if the books could take them to the Self. Guru smiled and quoted the same unusual statement. The children didn’t understand the moral.
Pustak means a book or even scriptures. The divine words are gathered in a few pages, which are published as holy books. The Quran, the Vedas, the Geeta, the Bible, and the rest are books. The term ustak in the statement denotes the Self. Now, untak lejati hai jo ustak gaye hain indicates the realized soul, the Guru. If we consider the statement as a whole, we find,
A chronicle cannot carry us to the climax, only can coast us to the one cozy at the climax.
This means that books cannot make us realize the Self but guide us. They can only take us to the Guru, the realized being.
The Guru told a story to the students.
Once there lived a wealthy family. One day, they decided to save thirty-thousand gold coins for their succeeding generations, if they needed. The family was not an ordinary one but blessed with the Guru. They built a temple and hid a chest full of thirty-thousand gold coins at the tip of the temple, on the auspicious occasion of Diwali at mid-noon. They even inscribed a message for the generation to be aware of the wealth.
Seven generations passed. They didn’t face any difficulty. Suddenly, the eighth generation lost all their wealth and starved for food. They thought of utilizing the reserve money. They even hesitated as they had to demolish the temple, the core of the integrity of the town. But, they had no choice. They demolished a part of the temple pyramidal top but found not a single coin. They felt doomed.
A Guru passed by the place. He inquired about the cause of distress. The Guru smiled, listening to the cause, and asked the family members to rebuild the demolished pyramidal part of the temple. Then, he asked them to wait for the day of Diwali. Even on the day of Diwali, he asked the members to wait till mid-noon. The family members were restless. The Guru asked them to find the shadow of the temple pyramid. As they found it, he asked them to dig at the apical portion of the pyramid’s shadow. As they dug at the site, they found a chest full of gold coins. The family rejoiced.
Scriptures own complete descriptions of the true sense of life. But, we cannot decipher it with our meager brain. Only the Guru can understand and make us conceive the true meaning. Such is the power of Guru.