One day Columbus was at a dinner which a Spanish gentleman had given in his honor. Several persons present there were jealous of the great admiral's success. They told Columbus, “You have discovered strange lands beyond the seas, but what of that? We do not see why there should be so much said about it. Anybody can sail across the ocean; and anybody can coast along the islands on the other side, just as you have done. It is the simplest thing in the world.''
Columbus made no answer; but after a while he took an egg from a dish and asked the company, “Who among you, gentlemen, can make this egg stand on end?'' One by one those at the table tried the experiment. When the egg had gone entirely around and none had succeeded, all said that it could not be done. Then Columbus took the egg and struck its small end gently upon the table so as to break the shell a little. After that there was no trouble in making it stand upright.” Gentlemen,'' he said, “What is easier than to do this which you said was impossible? It is the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do it…… after he has been shown how!”
The world has advanced too much in all areas of growth; fine arts or hard science makes no difference. Undoubtedly the common public is the end user of almost all these inventions and discoveries. I doubt, if we have learned to respect those men of great competence, who virtually opened for us the possibilities of innovative concepts. We live as if things are as simple as anything and that we owe none for anything. In most cases, if history is true, great pains were there behind most inventions that changed the face of the world. Steinmetz, who first introduced an AC motor, retired as an engineer from General Electric Company. The company could not realise his worth until a very complex system was broken. No one could fix it no matter how hard the technicians tried. So they got Steinmetz back. He traced the systems and found the malfunctioning part and marked it with a piece of chalk.
Like that in physical innovations and discoveries, spirituality related activities also are under the shadow of a similar public attitude. The world has miserably failed to recognise the worth of those Great Masters who taught the world the meaning of life and relevance of ‘truth’. According to the world, there is nothing new in it. As a result, the present world has truly become more or less like a hornet’s nest. If General Electric Company knew that there was a problem and nobody there could fix it, we are differentiated by the fact that we are yet to acknowledge that there is a problem and we require competent masters back to fix it.
