18.
Ramdas, as he wrote his Ramayana, read it out to his students.
Unknown to anyone, Hanuman too would come and sit among them, and
listen to it. Samarth Ramdas had written, "Hanuman reached the ashoka-grove
and he saw the white flowers there." Hearing this, Hanuman
appeared suddenly and said, "I saw no white flowers; the
flowers I saw were red. What you have written is wrong. Correct
it." Samarth insisted, "I have written right. The flowers
you saw were white." Hanuman would not yield; he said, "It
was I that went there. Would I tell a lie?" The dispute was at
last taken to Sri Ramachandra. "The flowers were, of course,
white," he said, "but Hanuman's eyes were red with anger,
and saw the pure white as red." The point of this charming
story is that what the world appears us to be, depends on the vision
we have of it.
19. So long as we do not feel sure
that the whole creation is auspicious, the mind will not be
one-pointed. As long as we think that something is wrong with the
world, we look at all things with suspicion. Poets sing of the happy
freedom of birds, but let them try being a bird for a while. Then
they would know that a bird's freedom is really worth. The neck of a
bird dances back and forth all the time. It is ever afraid of
others. If you put your bird on the seat of meditation, will it
attain one-pointedness? |
