Science of the Rishis: A Daily Rhythm

Part III: Why Sacred Statues Look Alike: The Anatomy of Inner Peace

In the life of St. Francis, there is a beautiful incident. He is dying, and he has always traveled on a donkey from place to place sharing his experiences. All his disciples are gathered to listen to his last words.

The last words of a man are always the most significant that he has ever uttered because they contain the whole experience of his life.

But what the disciples heard, they could not believe….

St. Francis did not address the disciples; he addressed the donkey. He said, “Brother, I am immensely indebted to you. You have been carrying me from one place to another place with never a complaint, never grumbling. Before I leave this world, all that I want is forgiveness from you; I have not been humane to you.”

These were the last words of St. Francis. A tremendous sensitivity to say to the donkey, “Brother donkey” and ask to be forgiven.

As you become more sensitive, life becomes bigger. It is not a small pond, it becomes oceanic. It is not confined to you and your wife and your children — it is not confined at all. This whole existence becomes your family, and unless the whole existence is your family you have not known what life is — because no man is an island, we are all connected.

We are a vast continent, joined in millions of ways.

And if our hearts are not full of love for the whole, in the same proportion our life is cut short.

Meditation will bring you sensitivity, a great sense of belonging to the world. It is our world — the stars are ours, and we are not foreigners here. We belong intrinsically to existence. We are part of it, we are heart of it.

Secondly, meditation will bring you a great silence — because all rubbish knowledge is gone. Thoughts that are part of the knowledge are gone too… an immense silence, and you are surprised: This silence is the only music there is.

All music is an effort to bring this silence somehow into manifestation.

The seers of the ancient East have been very emphatic about the point that all the great arts — music, poetry, dance, painting, sculpture — are all born out of meditation. They are an effort to in some way bring the unknowable into the world of the known for those who are not ready for the pilgrimage — just gifts for those who are not ready to go on the pilgrimage. Perhaps a song may trigger a desire to go in search of the source, perhaps a statue.

The next time you enter a temple of Gautam Buddha or Mahavira just sit silently, watch the statue. Because the statue has been made in such a way, in such proportions that if you watch it you will fall silent. It is a statue of meditation; it is not concerned with Gautam Buddha or Mahavira.

That’s why all those statues look alike — Mahavira, Gautam Buddha, Neminatha, Adinatha…. Twenty-four tirthankaras of Jainas… in the same temple you will find twenty-four statues all alike, exactly alike.

In my childhood I used to ask my father, “Can you explain to me how it is possible that twenty-four persons are exactly alike? — the same size, the same nose, the same face, the same body….”

And he used to say, “I don’t know. I am always puzzled myself that there is not a bit of difference. And it is almost unheard of — there are not even two persons in the whole world who are alike, what to say about twenty-four?”

But as my meditation blossomed I found the answer — not from anybody else, I found the answer: that these statues have nothing to do with the people. These statues have something to do with what was happening inside those twenty-four people, and that was exactly the same.

And we have not bothered about the outside; we have insisted that only the inner should be paid attention to. The outer is unimportant. Somebody is young, somebody is old, somebody is black, somebody is white, somebody is man, somebody is woman — it does not matter; what matters is that inside there is an ocean of silence. In that oceanic state, the body takes a certain posture.

You have observed it yourself, but you have not been alert. When you are angry, have you observed? — your body takes a certain posture. In anger you cannot keep your hands open; in anger — the fist. In anger you cannot smile — or can you?

With a certain emotion, the body has to follow a certain posture. Just small things are deeply related inside.

*Theory* – Form Follows Mind: How Your Body Echoes Your Emotional State

*Mindful Workplace (Sattva):* Karmasu Kausalam (Work as a Meditative Expression): Just as ancient statues, music, and art were external expressions of internal meditation, your daily output – code, slide decks, strategy docs, or client calls – can be an offering of excellence. 

• Workplace Practice: Approach your primary tasks with total presence (Ekagrata). Craft your work cleanly and deliberately, using the outer task as a reflection of inner discipline rather than rushing just to clear a queue.