DISPASSION COMES LIKE A FLOOD AND NEVER BY DROPS

How does a man come to have vairagya

(dispassion)?

A wife once said to her husband: "Dear, I am very

anxious about my brother. For the past one week

he has been thinking of becoming an ascetic, and

has been busy preparing for that life. He is trying

to reduce gradually all his desires and wants." The

husband replied: "Dear, be not anxious about your

brother. Pie will never become a sannyasin. No one

can become a sannyasin in that way." "How does

one become a sannyasin then?" asked the wife.

"Thus" exclaimed the husband; so saying, he tore

his flowing dress to pieces, took a piece and tied it

round his loin, and told his wife that she and all of

her sex were henceforth mothers to him. He left

the house, nevermore to return.

HE WENT AWAY, TOWEL ON HIS SHOULDER

A MAN was going to bathe. He had his towel on

his shoulder. His wife said to him, "You are

worthless. You are getting old and still you cannot

give up some of your habits. You cannot live a

single day without me. But look at that man!

What a renouncer he is!"

Husband: "Why? What has he done?"

Wife: "He has sixteen wives and he is renouncing

them one by one. You will never be able to

renounce."

Husband: "Renouncing his wives one by one! You

are crazy. He won't be able to renounce. If a man

wants to renounce, does he do it little by little?"

Wife (smiling): "Still he is better than you."

Husband: "You are silly; you don't understand. He

cannot renounce. But I can. See! Here I go!"

That is called intense renunciation. No sooner did

the man discriminate than he renounced. He went

away with the towel on his shoulder. He didn't turn

back to settle his worldly affairs. He didn't even

look back at his home.

He who wants to renounce needs great strength of

mind. He must have a dare-devil attitude like a

dacoit's. Before looting a house, the dacoits shout:

"Kill! Murder! Loot!"

IT'S NOT EASY TO ATTAIN TRUE HUMILITY

A MAN went to a sadhu and said with a great

show of humility: "Sir, I am a very low person. Tell

me, O Master, how I am to be saved." The sadhu,

reading the heart of the man, told him, "Well, go

and bring me that which is meaner than yourself."

The man went out and looked all round but found

nothing whatsoever meaner than himself. At last

he saw his own excrement and said, "Well, here is

something which is certainly worse than myself."

He stretched forth his hand to take it up and carry

it to the sadhu when suddenly he heard a voice say

from within the ordure: "Touch me not, O sinner.

I was a sweet and delicious cake, fit to be offered

to the gods and in appearance so pleasing to all the

spectators. But my ill-fortune brought me to you,

and by your evil contact I have been reduced to

such a detestable condition that men run away

from me with faces turned and with handkerchiefs

covering their noses. Once only did I come in

contact with you and this has been my fate. What

deeper degradation may I not be thrown into if you

touch me again?"

The man was thus taught true humility and became

the humblest of the humble. As a result he attained

the highest perfection.

THE HOMA BIRD

TPHE Vedas speak of the Homa bird. It lives very

high in the sky. There the mother bird lays her egg.

She lives so high that the egg falls for many days.

While falling it is hatched. The chick continues to

fall. That also goes on for many days. In the

meantime the chick develops eyes. Coming near

the earth, it becomes conscious of the world. It

realises it will meet certain death if it hits the

ground. Then it gives a shrill cry and shoots up

towards its mother. The earth means death, and it

frightens the young bird; it then seeks its mother.

She dwells high up in the sky, and the young bird

shoots straight up in that direction. It doesn't look

anywhere else.

Persons who are born with God-consciousness

realise the danger of coming in contact with the

world. From their very childhood they are afraid of

the world, and their one thought is how to reach

the mother, how to realise God.