IT is on account of the ego that one is not able to see God.
There was once a man who had acquired the power to tame ghosts. One day, at his summons, a ghost appeared. The ghost said, "Now tell me what you want me to do. The moment you cannot give me any work I shall break your neck." The man had many things to accomplish and he had the ghost to do them all, one by one. At last he could find nothing more for the ghost to do. "Now", said the ghost, "I am going to break our neck." "Wait a minute", said the man. "I shall return presently." He ran to his teacher and said, "Revered sir, I am in great danger. This is my trouble." And he told his teacher his trouble and asked, "What shall I do now?" The teacher said, "Do this. Tell the ghost to straighten this kinky hair." The ghost devoted itself day and night to straightening the hair. But how could it make a kinky hair straight? The hair remained kinky.
Likewise, the ego seems to vanish this moment, but it reappears the next. Unless one renounces the ego, one does not receive the grace of God.
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A FROG lived in a well. It had lived there for a long time. It was born and brought up there. And it was a small little frog. One day another frog that had lived in the sea came and fell into that well. The frog of the well asked the new-comer, "Whence are you?" The frog of the sea replied, "I am from the sea." The frog of the well questioned: "The sea! How big is that?" The frog of the sea said, "It is very big." The frog of the well stretched its legs and questioned, "Ah! Is your sea so big?" The frog of the sea said, "It is much bigger." The frog of the well then took a leap from one side of the well to the other, and asked, "Is it as big as this, my well?" "My friend”, said the frog of the sea, "how can you compare the sea with your well?" The frog of the well asserted: "No, there can never be anything bigger than my well. Indeed, nothing can be bigger than this! This fellow is a liar, he must be turned out."
Such is the case with every narrow-minded man. Sitting in his own little well, he thinks that the whole world is no bigger than his well.
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A GURU said to his disciple: "The world is illusory. Come away with me." "But revered sir," said the disciple, "my people at home—my father, my mother, my wife—love me so much. How can I give them up?" The guru said: "No doubt you now have this feeling of T and 'mine' and say that they love you; but this is all an illusion of your mind, I shall teach you a trick, and you will know whether they love you truly or not." Saying this, the teacher gave the disciple a pill and said to him: "Swallow this at home. You will appear to be a corpse, but you will not lose consciousness. You will see everything and hear everything. Then I shall come to your house and gradually you will regain your normal state."
The disciple followed the teacher's instructions and lay on his bed like a dead person. The house was filled with loud wailing. His mother, his wife, and the others lay on the ground weeping bitterly. Just then a brahmana entered the house and said to them, "What is the matter with you?" "This boy is dead", they replied. The brahmana felt the pulse and said: "How is that? No, he is not dead. I have a medicine that will cure him completely." The joy of the relatives was unbounded; it seemed to them that heaven itself had come down into their house. "But", said the brahmana, "I must tell you something else. Another person must take some of this medicine first, and then the boy must swallow the rest. But the other person will die. I see he has so many dear relatives here; one of them will certainly agree to take the medicine. I see his wife and mother crying bitterly. Surely they will not hesitate to take it."
At once the weeping stopped and all sat quiet. The mother said: ''Well, this is a big family: Suppose I die; then who will look after the family?" She fell into a reflective mood. The wife, who had been crying a minute before and bemoaning her ill luck, said: "Well he has gone the way of mortals. I have these two or three young children. Who will look after them if I die?"
The disciple saw everything and heard everything. He stood up at once and said to the teacher: "Let us go, revered sir. 1 will follow you."
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ONCE, three friends were going through a forest, when a tiger suddenly appeared before them. "Brothers," one of them exclaimed, "we are lost!" "Why should you say that?" said the second friend, "Why should we be lost? Come, let us pray to God." The third friend said: "No. Why should we trouble God about it? Come, let us climb this tree."
The friend who said 'We are lost!' did not know that there is a God who is our Protector. The friend who asked the others to pray to God was a jnani. He was aware that God is the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the world. The third friend, who didn't want to trouble God with prayers and suggested climbing the tree, had ecstatic love of God. It is the very nature of such love that it makes a man think himself stronger than his Beloved. He is always alert lest his Beloved should suffer. The one desire of his is to keep his Beloved from even being pricked in the foot by a thorn.
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A DISCIPLE asked his teacher, "Sir, please tell me how I can see God." "Come with me," said the Guru, "and I shall show you." He took, the disciple to a lake, and both of them got into the water. Suddenly the teacher pressed the disciple's head under the water. After a few moments he released him and the disciple raised his head and stood up. The Guru asked him, "How did you feel?" The disciple said, “Oh! I thought I should die; I was panting for breath”. The teacher said, "When you feel like that for God, then you will know you
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ONCE Narada besought the Lord of the universe, "Lord, show me that Maya of Thine which can make the impossible possible." The Lord nodded assent. Subsequently the Lord one day set out on a travel with Narada. After going some distance, He felt very thirsty and fatigued. So He sat down and told Narada, "Narada, I feel much thirsty; please get me a little water from somewhere." Narada at once ran in search of water.
Finding no water nearby, he went far from the place and saw a river at a great distance. When he approached the river, he saw a most charming young lady sitting there, and was at once captivated by her beauty. As soon as Narada went near her, she began to address him in sweet words, and ere long, both fell in love with each other. Narada then married her, and settled down as a householder. In course of time he had a number of children by her. And while he was thus living happily with his wife and children, there came a pestilence in the country. Death began to collect its toll from every place. Then Narada proposed to abandon the place and go somewhere else. His wife acceded to it, and they both came out of their house leading their children by the hand. But no sooner did they come to the bridge to cross the river than there came a terrible flood, and in the rush of water, all their children were swept away one after another, and at last the wife too was drowned.
Overwhelmed with grief at his bereavement, Narada sat down on the bank and began to weep piteously. Just then the Lord appeared before him, saying, "O Narada, where is the water? And why are you weeping?" The sight of the Lord startled the sage, and then he understood everything. He exclaimed, "Lord, my obeisance to Thee, and my obeisance also to Thy wonderful Maya!"
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A disciple, who had firm faith in the infinite power of his Guru, walked over the river by simply uttering his Guru's name. Seeing this, the Guru thought, “Well, is there such a power in my mere name? Then how great and powerful must I be!”
The next day, the Guru also tried to walk over the river uttering "I", "I", "I", but no sooner did he step into the water than he sank down and was soon drowned; for the poor man did not know how to swim even.
Faith can achieve miracles while vanity or egotism brings about the destruction of man.
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VISHNU incarnated Himself as a sow in order to kill the demon Hiranynksha. After killing the demon, sow remained quite happy with her young ones. Forgetting her real nature, she was suckling them very contentedly.
The gods in heaven could not persuade Vishnu to relinquish His sow's body and return to the celestial regions. He was absorbed in the happiness of His beast form. After consulting among themselves, the gods sent Siva to the sow. Siva asked the sow "Why have you forgotten yourself?" Vishnu replied through the sow's body, "Why, I am quite happy here." Thereupon with a stroke of his trident Siva destroyed the sow's body and Vishnu went back to heaven.
Everyone is under the authority of the Divine Mother, Mahamaya, the Primal Energy. Even the Incarnations of God accept the help of Maya to fulfil their mission on earth. Therefore they worship the Primal Energy.
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THERE was a farmer who lived in the countryside. He was a real jnani. He earned his living by farming, He was married, and after many years a son was born to him, whom he named Haru. The parents loved the boy dearly. This was natural, since he was the one precious gem of the family. On account of his religious nature the farmer was loved by the villagers.
One day he was working in the field when a neighbour came and told him that Haru had an attack of cholera. The farmer at once returned home and arranged for treatment for the boy. But Haru died. The other members of the family were grief-stricken, but the farmer acted as if nothing had happened. He consoled his family and told them that grieving was futile. Then he went back to his field.
On returning home he found his wife weeping even more bitterly. She said to him: "How heartless you are! You haven't shed one tear for the child." The farmer replied quietly: "Shall I tell you why I haven't wept? I had a very vivid dream last night. I dreamt I had become a king; I was the father of eight sons and was very happy with them. Then I woke up. Now I am greatly perplexed. Should I weep for those eight sons or for this one Hani?"
The farmer was a jnani; therefore he realized that the waking state is as unreal as the dream state. There is only one eternal substance, and that is the Atman.
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A SADHU under the instruction of his Guru built for himself a small shed, thatched with leaves at a distance from the haunts of men. He began his devotional exercises in this hut. Now, every morning after ablution he would hang his wet cloth and the kaupina (loin-cloth) on a tree close to the hut, to dry them.
One day on his return from the neighbouring village, which he would visit to beg for his daily food, he found that the rats had cut holes in his kaupina. So the next day he was obliged to go to the village for a fresh one.
A few days later, the sadhu spread his loin-cloth on the roof of his hut to dry it and then went to the village to beg as usual. On his return he found that the rats had torn it into shreds. He felt much annoyed and thought within himself "Where shall I go again to beg for a rag? Whom shall I ask for one?" All the same he saw the villagers the next day and re-presented to them the mischief done by the rats. Having heard all he had to say, the villagers said, "Who will keep you supplied with cloth every day? Just do one thing—keep a cat; it will keep away the rats." The sadhu forthwith secured a kitten in the village and carried it to his hut. From that day the rats ceased to trouble him and there was no end to his joy. The sadhu now began to tend the useful little creature with great care and feed it on the milk begged from the village.
After some days, a villager said to him: "Sadhuji, you require milk every day; you can supply your want for a few days at most by begging; who will supply you with milk all the year round? Just do one thing—keep a cow. You can satisfy your own creature comforts by drinking its milk and you can also give some to your cat." In a few days the sadhu procured a milch cow and had no occasion to beg for milk any more. By and by, the sadhu found it necessary to beg for straw for his cow. He had to visit the neighbouring villages for the purpose, but the villagers said, "There are lots of uncultivated lands close to your hut; just cultivate the land and you shall not have to beg for straw for your cow." Guided by their advice, the sadhu took to tilling the land. Gradually he had to engage some labourers and later on found it necessary to build barns to store the crop in. Thus he became, in course of time, a sort of landlord.
And, at last he had to take a wife to look after his big household. He now passed his days just like a busy householder. After some time, his Guru came to see him. Finding himself surrounded by goods and chattles, the Guru felt puzzled and enquired of a servant, "An ascetic used to live here in a hut; can you tell me where he has removed himself?" The servant did not know what to say in reply. So the Guru ventured to enter into the house, where he met his disciple. The Guru said to him, "My son, what is all this?" The disciple, in great shame fell at the feet of his Guru and said, "My Lord, all for a single piece of loin-cloth!"
http://info.stiltij.nl/publiek/meditatie/leraren/TalesAndParablesOfRamakrishna.pdf
http://info.stiltij.nl/publiek/meditatie/leraren/TalesAndParablesOfRamakrishna.pdf
