Bhaktisandesam / Eternal Bliss

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Parable of the Jack-Fruit in the Courtyard

Parables of Sivananda

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A big jack-tree in a man's courtyard was laden with fruits. From the

very bottom of the trunk up to the topmost branch it was dotted with

fruits. As though one possessed with an evil spirit, the man rushes

out towards the fruit several times. He touches the jack-fruit, but

the surface is uninviting. He abandons it in disgust.

Far away from home he had seen one palm tree. Walking in the hot sun

several miles, he stands near the tree. His craving had reached its

zenith. The few small fruits that hung on the top of the tree tempt

him. He rushes forward. He falls on the bush of prickly pears and

gets injured by the thorns all over the body.

 

Not discouraged by this he tries to climb the tree. The scales that

cover the trunk are hard and knife-like. They hurt him.

 

 

But he does not mind. As he climbs, a swarm of poisonous ants that

sting like devils, sting him all over the body. He has somehow

managed to reach the top; such is his mad passion for the little

fruits. The fruits are surrounded by hundreds of bees. When he lays

his hands upon them, the bees angrily sting him. In spite of this, he

tries to grab the fruits. Then and there he drops more than half the

catch. With the remainder, he tries to climb down. Several fruits

drop off his hand before he reaches the ground. He sits himself down

to enjoy the few fruits left with him. To his horror he discovers

that the major portion of these little fruits is hard nut; and then

even the skin has to be thrown away. There is little pulp in the

fruit. In disgust he throws the fruits away.

Instantly he comes back to his senses, and begins to suffer with

agony. The pain of the thorns, the bites of the poisonous ants, the

stings of the bees, and the cuts produced on his body by the sharp

scales of the tree - these seem to torment him all at once. It is now

past several days since he left home. With his tattered clothes and

bleeding body, he runs home .... to find that his father had been

waiting for him with the delicious jack-fruit.

 

The young man stumbles into the house and falls at the father's feet.

Without asking a question, the father gives him new clothes, pulls

out the thorns from his body, dresses up the wounds, all the time

feeding him with the honey-like jack-fruit. The young man's happiness

is now complete. Peacefully he sleeps on his father's lap.

 

Similarly, man ignores the fountain of Eternal Bliss that is within

the core of his own heart. He is frightened away by the apparent

initial difficulties in Sadhana. He does not care to cut open this

rough exterior and enjoy the highest bliss. He is hungry. He runs

away from home and from this tree that yields the best fruit. Over

the burning sands of Samsara he runs hither and thither. Here he

falls into the thorny bush of dishonour; there he knocks against the

rock of failure. He falls in love with a woman. How many sacrifices-

of a care-free life, of freedom from worry and anxiety-he has to make

before he approaches her! Lured by illusory pleasure he succumbs to

passion.

 

As he tries to go up this tree of wedded life, a thousand worries

about feeding the children, finding money for his wife's sarees and

jewels bite him all over the body. Even then he pursues the evil

goal. He is intent on the little fruit of sensual pleasure. As he

grabs it, several fell diseases prey upon him. He becomes sick of it

all and, writhing with pain and disease, he realises that the world

would not allow him to enjoy even the little pleasure which he

thought was within his grip. He looks for a way-out.

 

While ascending this tree of family life, and even while descending,

the sharp knife-edges of the demands of creditors and relatives tear

his clothes and bruise him all over. He is now left with tattered

clothes and a body which had been bled at a hundred places, and

depleted of all energy. Tired, he sits down for a while and examines

the fruits that have caused him all the trouble. Much of it is hard

nut (the impenetrable heart of a woman, that gives her love the magic

of magnitude, without the least real substance in it!) and part of it

is mere skin. When these two are thrown away, there is practically

nothing left-except the cuts and bruises, the stings and bites, the

torn clothes and tired body. With supreme disgust, the man throws

away the illusory fruit and runs home.

 

There the Guru is waiting for him, with the delicious fruit of

wisdom, all cut and ready to serve. He wipes his tears, heals his

wounds and supplies the new clothes of renunciation and devotion. The

young man falls at the Guru's feet, and rests securely on his lap.

With the supreme love and compassion that can flow only from a Guru's

heart, the Guru feeds the disciple with the sweet honey of wisdom, of

Atma-Jnana. Awakened in his innermost Self, man sleeps to the affairs

of the world and enjoys the great sleepless Sleep of Samadhi.

 

 

 

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Jai Shree Krishna !