Both these phenomena happen simultaneously: the person who can see himself in all animate and inanimate objects – all the animals, the whole existence – will inevitably be able to see all in himself. The person for whom the whole world becomes a mirror, himself becomes a mirror for the whole world. They happen simultaneously. They are the two sides of one and the same occurrence. The Upanishad says that when this happens, hatred disappears.

What is born then? The Upanishad hasn’t said that love is born then, because love is eternal, it is our nature. Neither is it born, nor does it die. For instance, when the rainy season has set in and the sky is covered with clouds, the sun is obscured. Now, can we say that the sun will be born when the clouds disappear? No, we can only say that the sun, which was always there, will be visible. When the clouds came the sun was not destroyed, it was just obscured. It was no longer visible, concealed behind the clouds. Clouds will disappear and the sun will shine again. Clouds are born and clouds die, but the sun is always there.

Love is the nature of life, so it has neither birth nor death. Clouds of hatred are born and die. Love is covered when those clouds are born; it manifests itself when they disappear, when they are no more. But love is eternal, so the Upanishad does not talk of the birth of love, it says this much only: hatred dies and disappears.

But how? The sutra is not as easy as it appears. Many a time it happens that the things which look difficult are not so, and similarly, those which appear easy are not easy. Mostly, there is great depth and intricacy hidden within easy matters. This sutra seems to be straightforward and easy. The whole statement is completed in two lines only. It says, the person who sees himself in all objects – animate and inanimate – and begins to see all objects in himself, will have his hatred destroyed. But to make all his mirror, or to be a mirror for all, is the greatest alchemy and art. There is no greater art.

I have heard: A Chinese man once went to the court of the emperor of Iran and said, “I have come from China, and I am a very great artist. I can make paintings such as you have never seen before.”

The emperor said, “Then make them here. But remember, there is no shortage of painters in our court and I have seen very wonderful pictures.”

The Chinese painter said, “I am ready to meet any challenge.”

The best among the court painters was selected to compete. Then the emperor warned his painter, “Use all your talent, do your very best. This is now a question of the prestige of the empire. See that you are not defeated by this foreigner.”

They were given six months to complete their work. The Iranian painter began his work very seriously. With the help of ten to twenty co-workers he covered his whole wall with beautiful pictures. News of his paintings reached distant regions, and people came from afar to see his work. But a greater miracle than this was happening. The Chinese artist said, “I need no implements or materials for my work, nor any paints either. I insist on one condition only – that the curtain covering my wall not be removed till the picture is finished.”