The Parable of the Shaken Jar - A Puranic allegory on conflict, illusion, and the unshaken Self

Salutations to the Self, unshaken and unchanging, the silent witness of all that arises in time. May this tale, though small, open the eyes of seekers to the truth behind appearances.

The Sage and the Jar

It is told that a wandering ṛṣi once gathered his students in the forest hermitage. To reveal the mystery of conflict, he placed before them a clear glass jar. Into it he set two tribes of ants: one red as embers, the other black as midnight.

For a time, the ants wandered freely, antennae touching, legs brushing, each carrying crumbs and tending to its dharma. They crossed paths without quarrel, sharing the same earth beneath their feet.

The sage spoke:

“Behold, my children, how they live as neighbors, content in their own natures, without enmity.”

Then, without warning, he sealed the jar, shook it with force, and set it upon the ground.

At once, chaos erupted. The red ants fell upon the black, the black upon the red. The jar became a battlefield of fury — mandibles clashing, bodies torn, each tribe convinced that the other was the source of its suffering.

Alarmed, the students exclaimed:

“Master! Why have you set them against each other? Only a moment ago they lived in peace. Now they destroy one another. The red believes the black is the enemy, the black believes the red is the enemy. Yet neither sees that it was your hand that shook the jar!”

The sage replied:

“So it is in the world, O seekers.

Men contend with women,

the left with the right,

the rich with the poor,

faith with reason.

When the jar of society is shaken by māyā, beings do not perceive the hand behind the motion. They only see each other and call one another enemy.

It is ignorance that breeds hatred,

rajas that inflames it,

tamas that blinds it.

Thus the guṇas stir the mind into frenzy,

and the true cause remains unseen.”

The students bowed their heads. And the sage spoke once more:

“The Self is neither red nor black.

The Self is not shaken.

The Self is the witness of all jars,

the seer of all agitation.

Therefore, ask not, ‘Who is my enemy?’

Ask instead, ‘Who shook the jar?’

And deeper still,

‘Who is it that was never shaken?’

When this is known,

enmity falls away like a dream upon waking.

This is freedom.”

Thus ends the tale of the shaken jar, told among seekers as a mirror of their own hearts. Know it well: the world will continue to tremble, but the one who realizes the witness within remains unmoved.