It's tempting to believe
your problems are real, life is hard and things are simply not going
your way
An Evening with an
Enlightened Man
by Saleem Rana
It was a quiet night by the
Ganges as the young man sat on the steps and watched the sun set
over the holy waters.
Despite the beauty of the
scene, he did not appreciate it.
The lilting cadence of the
bathers chatting loudly seemed far away, and even their playful
splashing of each other did not amuse him.
Someone started chanting a
bhajan about Krishna and the gopis and others soon joined him until
their happy voices slapped on the shores of the river and made the
mosquitoes pause in midair.
This only irritated the
young man more. He was worried about his job how little it paid and
how he was going to pay for the rent for his 250 rupee room.
He was also lonely and
wanted to get married, but what good family would accept someone who
spent most of his time serving in a tea stall.
A holy man came and sat by
him. He was only wearing sacred ash from head to toe.
"You seem troubled, young
man," said the man, almost jovially.
Soon they began talking and
the young man poured out his heart. He learned that the holy man,
who spoke very well, had once been a college professor at the
University of Allahabad. Then, one day, after he had given a lecture
on the philosophy of renunciation he had decided to pursue what he
most desired, the quest for enlightenment.
After many years, one night,
as he was stroking a stray cat and the two had been sitting for
hours under a banyan tree, he understood his true nature and an
immense peace filled his life and miracles happened to him
spontaneously from then on.
The young man listened
impatiently, feeling increasingly irritated.
Finally, in exasperation,
the young man said, "I don't understand how you can be either
enlightened or happy. You have even less than I. You don't even have
any clothes and you don't even know where your next meal is going to
come from."
Suddenly serious, the sadhu
said:
"It's tempting to believe
that your problems are real and that your life is hard and that
things are simply not going your way.
"After all, isn't that what
everybody else thinks, too?
"It's a great temptation to
believe in yourself as a limited being.
"And everyone will back you
up. The newspapers will. The TV will. Your neighbors will.
"How long are you going to
let this painful delusion continue?
"You've read the great
books. You've heard the avatars. You've walked on the path yourself.
You know.
"You know that you're pure
energy.
"You also know that your
reach is infinite. You can be, have, and do anything that you
choose. You have the power. Right now its turned back on itself and
being used to create limitations for yourself.
"Your imaging power is how
you express your infinite power.
"All ideas of limitations
are an illusion fostered by the mind.
"And you can't fall back on
science either to confirm your limitation.
"Because what physicists say
is that there is nothing but energy everywhere and that matter only
seems solid but isn't really. It's just that the atoms clump
together and the electrons spin so fast that even I look like a real
thing.
"Of course, it's fine to
keep seeing yourself as "just human" but it's not going to last for
very long. Sooner or later, you'll drop your body and be faced with
your energy form. I just think it's easier to admit it now and see
how you can go around expressing your spiritual power while you're
still in this dimension."
"Yes," said the young man,
"I think I understand."
"What do you understand?"
challenged the sadhu.
"I understand that I can be,
have, and do anything that I choose because I have the power. The
only reason that I don't recognize it is because I misuse it to
limit myself to the extreme."
"Yes," said the holy man,
pleased. "The world for you is only the images you hold in your
mind; change your images and you change the world for you."
"One thing I don't
understand, though," said the young man. "Why did you give up
everything a fine education, an excellent job, and a devoted family?
Why? Was it worth such a heavy price for enlightenment?"
"Yes, because it led up to
that moment under the banyan tree with the cat that I mentioned
earlier."
"What is this enlightenment?
What happened?"
"I caught a glimpse of the
infinite."
About the author: Saleem
Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas His book Never Ever
Give Up tells you how. It is offered at no cost as a way to help YOU
succeed.
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