Namasthe-Guru 14

June 4, 2008

Dear all,

Dattathreya saw honey bee as a guru. Now he accepts the honey-collector also as His guru. We will explore what he learnt from a honey collector.

Actually the lesson Dattathreya learned from the bee is closely connected with the honey gatherer. Here the person who collects the honey is not doing anything other than taking it from the bees by killing them and destroying the beehive. His action of snatching the product of the life long labour of thousands of bees is deplorable. Dhaarmic way of saving and distributing would have prevented the honey collector from getting a free ride.

Now let us think about all the nectar present in all the flowers. Honey gatherer could have tried all his life and still would not have been able to collect as much honey he collected from the beehive. Who made it possible for him to snatch it? Of course the answer is bees. After collecting and transforming the nectar in to honey, instead of sealing each storage unit with wax, if they had enjoyed all the honey by distributing among all the laborer bees, king, queen and security bees, this disaster would not have happened. This accumulated honey caused the temptation in the honey gatherer to enjoy something with out his efforts.

Now we have to look at another situation. If the honey collector is not hundred percent prepared to protect himself from the attack of the bees, the following verse from the Mahabhaaratha can become true.

A swarm of honey bees from a beehive attacks a honey collector and kills him. Similarly if united even the feeble ones can slay a powerful enemy

Dattathreya told King Yadu: Oh King! there are lot of people like the honey bees and also we can see people like honey gatherers. These are the lessons I learnt from them to add to my wisdom:

1. Wise men should not accumulate excessive quantities of material possessions and this type of hoarding can lead to their destruction. Nobody can take money or material possessions with him at the time of death. So we have to use our judgement in saving and distributing the excess with less fortunate people.

2. There are evil minded people who enjoys the fruits of the efforts of other people. Beware of those people, save what you need and give away the rest to deserving people before the the so called " honey gatherers " get a chance to exploit and destroy you. Do not be a victim, but be victorious in controlling your desires.

3. Unity of the feeble ones can defeat even the strongest enemy.

Regards and prayers

Savitri