A village man thought that he should go to the town to earn more money, so he went and started working in the town, he stayed there all alone and indeed he earned a much better living. Once he fell ill, and stayed at home. Due to illness, he was not earning anything, instead his savings were getting exhausted on medicines etc. He thought - I am suffering all alone here, I should go to my village for sometime, I will be taken-care of better in village. So he decided to go. He went to the horse-wagon stand, where buggie owners would wait with their horse-buggies for travellers. He asked the fare to his village, and no-one agreed to take him for less than Rs 15. The man felt Rs 15 was too high a price for a short journey. Just then, a horse-owner came there to sell his horse for just Rs 5. The man felt very happy, for just Rs 5 he would even own the horse and would reach his village on that horse. So he bought it, took it home, packed his bags and sat on the horse and tried to make it move ahead. But the horse was a defective one, for every step he took forward, he would move 3 steps back. That was the reason why it sold for so cheap. Now the man felt very dejected and sat in his home wondering - how to go back, now I dont even have Rs 15 because I spent Rs 5 on this defective horse.
Just then, a roaming sadhu came there, and seeing the man so dejected, he asked whats the problem, the man explained everything. The sadhu said - there is still a solution. You sit on the horse and make him move in the opposite direction, that way, for every one step he takes away from you village, he will move 3 steps towards the village, and although it will take a lot of time and effort, you will atleast reach your home. The man was very happy and followed the advice and reached home.
The teaching of the story - The mind is that defective horse, bought for Rs 5 (five senses), and in whichever direction you force it to move, it moves more in the opposite direction.
when you try to focus the mind more on God, the mind instead moves more towards the worldly enjoyments. What is the solution??
Make the mind move in opposite direction. Turn it towards the world, and make it move towards the world ie. instead of trying to avoid pleasures, try to see what substance it is, what will you gain from it, how it will effect you. It is an "Asat" or unreal substance, it is worldly. The gain is always temporary and affects you badly by binding you to the world. Lord says in Gita - sensory pleasures though appearing like nectar, are eventually poison, and spiritual practice though appearing like poison in beginning, gives the fruit that is like nectar.
When the mind realizes what it really is running after, then automatically it will move 3 steps back from sensory pleasures, it won't crave for those enjoyments, and then it will automatically be moving in the direction towards God.
Bottomline - don't renounce pleasures outwardly, rather use your discrimination to see what they are, how they affect you, what you gain and what you loose from them. Then you will develop disinterest in them, and that is renunciation.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
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