Guest guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey. Who however, has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey. One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed with ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new one who tries to climb, without having any idea why. And that's how Company's Policies get established. Or Spiritual rules in an Ashram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 A snippet of Sri Ramana's life in the Ashram. >From 'Ramana Maharshi, The Sage of Arunachala, T.M.P.Mahadevan, Unwin;1977: No institution can be run without rules. But what usually happens is that the rules are meant to be observed by the rank and file and not by the head. Now Niranjananda Svami had been responsible for establishing the Ramanasramam. The Master had nothing to do with the founding of the institution which bears his hallowed name. When rules came to be framed, Ramana was meticulous in observing them - even more so than the resident devotees. There was no question of him claiming any preferential treatment. Ramana would accept no privileges which were not shown equally to the others. With him rules were for all. There was a regular routine to which Ramana would scrupulously conform. (p. 59) ------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 dear sandeep, did you read david godman's book (actually there are 3 of them) called "the power of presence" where the devotees tell their account of spending time at the ashram. in those books, the biggest surprise for me was how little power ramana had at the ashram. one of the ashram managers puts ramana on a diet and the devotees were not allowed to give ramana any food. a devotee offers ramana some bananas. ramana accepts and eats one. when the devotee asks about the manager's controlling behaviour, ramana explains, "at first they're afraid to approach me. once they get comfortable, they pick up a stick and order me around." there is also another story where a devout hindu devotee does not drink coffee and the workers at the ashram insist it's ramana's prasad. when the devotee asks ramana why he's being forced to drink coffee against his beliefs, ramana says, "i never ask for coffee. they bring it to me and i drink it." hur ps. the reposted stories are paraphrased. RamanaMaharshi, Sandeep Chatterjee <sandeepc@b...> wrote: > > > > > Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. > > > > Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. > > > > One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. > > > > A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey. Who however, has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey. > > > > One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed with ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new one who tries to climb, without having any idea why. > > > > And that's how Company's Policies get established. > > > > Or Spiritual rules in an Ashram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 RamanaMaharshi, "Hur Guler" <hurg> wrote: > dear sandeep, did you read david godman's book (actually there are 3 > of them) called "the power of presence" where the devotees tell their > account of spending time at the ashram. in those books, the biggest > surprise for me was how little power ramana had at the ashram. one > of the ashram managers puts ramana on a diet and the devotees were > not allowed to give ramana any food. a devotee offers ramana some > bananas. ramana accepts and eats one. when the devotee asks about > the manager's controlling behaviour, ramana explains, "at first > they're afraid to approach me. once they get comfortable, they pick > up a stick and order me around." > > there is also another story where a devout hindu devotee does not > drink coffee and the workers at the ashram insist it's ramana's > prasad. when the devotee asks ramana why he's being forced to drink > coffee against his beliefs, ramana says, "i never ask for coffee. > they bring it to me and i drink it." > > hur > > ps. the reposted stories are paraphrased. Hi Hur, No I have not read any of Davod Goodman's stuff, though his works seems to much bandied about in the Adviata circles. As to your stories about Ramana, that's not surprising. Power, organizational pecking order, rules, rites, procedures, methodologies......never enter the milieu of true beingness. I am sure if some one had offered Ramana, some good Scotch, he would have drank it to the glory of the Self. On the same subject, remembered another story. In a Zen monastery, the Master noticed that the wandering cat during zazen, was disturbing the meditation of the disciples. So he caught the cat and put it inside a basket. The next few days whenever the cat came in looking for some catty satori, the Master would place him in the basket. Then the Master, had to go away from the monastery for few months. After he returned, he saw to his astonishment, any start of meditation, was preceded by all the disciples chasing cats and then when one was caught, it would be brought to the meditation hall and placed in a special basket, around which were lit some incense sticks. And only then would everybody assume the Lotus position. Much on many of these Lists, is not too different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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