| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
 |
| Discourses On Gita |
| THE TEACHING IN BRIEF : SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND EQUANIMITY |
| 8.
The body is like one's clothes. When the old clothes wear out, we go
in for new ones. If one body were to stick for ever to the soul, the
soul would be in a sad plight; it would stop growing, its joy would
vanish, and the light of its knowledge would become dim. That is why
the destruction of the body cannot be something to grieve over. Yes,
if the soul could be destroyed that certainly would be something to
grieve over. But the spirit is indestructible: it is an unbroken,
ever-flowing stream.
Many bodies settle on it for a while
and then disappear. That is why it is all wrong to get caught in the
circle of body's relations and to suffer with divisions and
distinctions, saying, "These belong to me; those belong to
others." Look, this whole universe is like a lovely shawl; and
a little boy takes a pair of scissors and cuts it up into pieces.
What a childish and violent folly to use the body as a pair of
scissors with which to cut up the universal spirit! And in our hearts lurks so much fear
of death that one wonders whether there is any other place like this
where people once conquered death but are now afraid of it. There is
no doubt that this is a result of long subjection, but one should
not forget that it is also a cause of that subjection. |
|
|
