Looking for the ocean in a small cup of water.

Krishna says in the Bhaavad Gita: "O Arjuna, the body is akin to a field". In Sanskrit, field is kshetra - a farmland; innocent and pure. It takes on whatever character the farmer gives to it. A handful of grains turns into a harvest.
We can choose to create a garden that will delight the hearts of all who visit it or turn it into a dumping ground for people to come and unload their garbage. Krishna calls this body a field because it can help us accomplish whatever we choose. We can become a sensualist and entrap ourselves in mundane activities or we can withdraw ourselves and concentrate on developing our inner self. Whatever we sow, so will harvest later.
A painter who wanted to paint an ideal young man searched the kingdom until he found a handsome, noble man. The painting turned out well. The painter decided to do a portrait of a man who was the complete opposite of the earlier one. He looked for a man with negative qualities. In prison he came upon a man who appeared ruthless.
The artist displayed the second portrait. Copies of both portraits were hung inside the jail. When the prisoner, the painter's model, saw these portraits, he began to cry, saying: both the portraits were of him, Once he was good and noble, then his life went wrong and he became completely depraved.
One day the Buddha was sitting under a tree, practicing sever austerities. Group of seekers passed by singing: " O singer, don't draw the strings of your lute too tightly lest they break; don't slack them so much that they will not make music". The Buddha realised that his body was like a stringed instrument. By mortifying it, he was defeating his purpose, while if he overindulged himself, it would become soft and flabby. He understood that he must keep to the middle path.
Meditation, the middle path, avoids extremes. Seers have called it Sahaja Yoga or natural yoga and Maha Yoga or great yoga. It can be practiced while leading a normal life, meeting one's responsibilities.
One morning , St Augustine was strolling along the seashore. He had been seeking God day and night and his eyes were tired and heavy. He was weighed down by the scriptures he had studied and by the many disciplines he had tried to follow.
Just then he saw a young boy holding a cup in his hand. The boy said that he was trying to find a way by which he could hold the entire ocean in his small cup. St Augustine's eyes were opened. He understood that he was trying to hold the ocean of the Infinite in the tiny cup of his ego. Unless he threw the cup into the sea, he could never achieve what he longed for.
Ego separates us from God, making us small and insecure. It is responsible for jealousy and greed; it keeps us smouldering all the time. When we shed our ego we realise that God is our innermost reality. The Guru helps us mediate spontaneously. As we plunge within, we realise this wonderful space in the heart and we become absorbed in joy and bliss.