Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Understand this clearly. Butter is very soft, but it does not melt unless you heat it a little. Similarly, God is very soft and sweet, but in order to experience Him, you need the fire of spiritual wisdom (jnana). This can be illustrated by the life of a couple living in a forest during the recluse (vanaprastha) stage. The wife arranges three bricks in the form of a hearth and places a vessel on it. She pours rice and water in the pot and lights fire under the vessel. Her husband, always immersed in the contemplation of Brahman, sees this and gives a spiritual interpretation to it. He compares the three bricks to the three qualities (gunas) of serenity, passion, and sloth (sathwa, rajas, thamas), the vessel to human body, rice to desires, water to love, and fire to the fire of wisdom. Do you heat the rice directly on the fire? No. The fire heats the vessel first, which in turn heats the water and boils the rice. Similarly, you should keep the body in contact with the fire of wisdom, i.e. near God. Then the water of love will be heated and boil the rice of desires. Therefore, keep the body and mind near and dear to God. When you do this, all your worldly desires will disappear. This is the essence of Vedanta.