Shri
Yogendraji
This rule holds true always. If you indulge in wrong
behavior or negative tendencies, the results will continue to be of a
pathological and depraving kind. Evil etches a groove for itself in our memory.
A complete change occurs in our personality. The pure spectrum of our
consciousness enters into denser areas. The poor quality of our awareness and
understanding manifests variously including in diseases - physical and psychological. Here are
stories in circulation in ancient asramas – the final resort for the
sick and the suffering ones.
First thoughts, their impressions and their behavior,
seems to be the sequence in all our behavior in life. The desire to steal leads
to such a behavior also. The philanthropist thinks in a charitable way and acts
so. The sick continues to remain sick just as a greedy individual remains
greedy all his life. In fact when indulging thus in a certain way as a result
of old tendencies, one comes to like that kind of behavior. As Emerson has
said: “It is easy for a strong person to be strong and for a weak one to be
weak’. In fact the man with positive feelings is so imbued with this spirit
that he maintains such an outlook all his life.
It was a winter day, cold had just set in. People felt
the severity of winter as much as birds and animals. A sadhu arrived in
a village, lighted afire, sat and got lost in his devotion. The severity of
winter did not affect him. Nearby stood a merchant who was pious at heart and
gave away in charity whatever he could to saintly individuals. He had purchased
recently a beautiful kashmiri shawl for the winter. On seeing the sadhu
seated without protective clothes on him, the merchant ran down to his
house and brought the shawl. He went up to the sadhu, quietly covered
him with the shawl and stood respectfully at a distance after that. The sadhu
recognized the sincere devotee in the merchant and while blessing him said;
“Child, you continue to act thus always.” The merchant was very pleased and
went his way.
A thief was standing at a distance from the sadhu. No
sooner the merchant departed he moved towards the holy man. “The shawl is
indeed very expensive and can provide me for the winter. What will this poor sadhu
do with such expensive piece? In fact this piece is not his earning and
moreover what has a sadhu to do with a shawl? The thief was just voicing
a popular feeling that a holy man need no comforts or even necessities.
The thief assured himself thus and was sure that if he
chose to steal the stuff there was no fear of any kind – law would not
interfere, the holy man would not get angry, there was also no fear of a chase.
He therefore decided on a trick. He went over to the sadhu, pretended to
be his disciple saying, “Sir I am blessed by being in your presence. Meeting
with holy men removes one’s sins, one’s pains and one’s poverty.” He then
praised the quality of the shawl on the holy man and desired to see the
texture of the beautiful piece. He drew away the shawl from the sadhu to
himself and after a while announced, “Forget it that you will ever get this shawl
again” and just walked away. He heard the holy man saying to him, “Child
you continue to act thus always.”
This last sentence of the sadhu intrigued the
thief. He could not fathom this. The holy man said similarly to the
philanthropist as he just told him. Why does this man bless people like this –
asked the thief to himself. The curiosity led to a pause, a desire for
understanding. This became a new tendency in him and it led him back to the
holy man. He fell at the feet of the sadhu, asked for his pardon and
mentioned his very deep-seated urge to understand what the sadhu said
and did. “You bless the merchant that he continues to act always in the same
way as he acted with you, and you blessed me also that I continue to act the
way I did.” The holy man explained: “Child good people maintain their goodness
always. The wicked continue according to their nature. Be sure the evil doer
will enjoy a life of evil deeds all along. The merchant is a man of noble
feelings, love and and so I blessed him to continue thus. You saw the shawl and
had the perverted desire to steal the shawl. So I blessed you that you are
creating evil tendencies and as a result would act thus all your life. “
(In Paramahamsa ni Prasadi.)
Published in the November 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine
