Guest guest Posted October 21, 2001 Report Share Posted October 21, 2001 Longing and Awakening A disciple went to his master and said to him, " Sir, I want religion. " The master looked at the young man, and did not speak, but only smiled. The young man came every day, and insisted that he wanted religion. But the old man knew better than the young man. One day, when it was very hot, he asked the young man to go to the river with him and take a plunge. The young man plunged in, and the old man followed him and held the young man down under the water by force. After the young man had struggled for a while, he let him go and asked him what he wanted most while he was under the water. " A breath of air " , the disciple answered. " Do you want God in that way? if you do, you will get Him in a moment, " said the master. Until you have that thirst, that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may struggle with your intellect, or your books, or your forms. Until that thirst is awakened in you, you are no better than any atheist; only the atheist is sincere, and you are not. A great sage used to say, " Suppose there is a thief in a room, and somehow he comes to know that there is a vast mass of gold in the next room, and that there is only a thin partition between the two rooms. What would be the condition of that thief? He would be sleepless, he would not be able to eat or do anything. His whole mind would be on getting that gold. Do you mean to say that, if all these people really believe that the Mine of Happiness, of Blessedness, or Glory were here, they would act as they do in the world, without trying to get God? " As soon as a man begins to believe there is a God, he becomes mad with longing to get to Him. Others may go their way, but as soon as a man is sure that there is a much higher life than that which he is leading here, as soon as he feels sure that the senses are not all, that this limited, material body is as nothing compared with the immortal, eternal, undying bliss of the Self, he becomes mad until he finds out this bliss for himself. And this madness, this thirst, this mania, is what is called the " awakening " to religion, and when that has come, a man is beginning to be religious. http://www.vivekananda.org/bhakti/fs.asp?page=6 ______________________ With Love, Cyber Dervish ```````````````````````````````````````` Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2001 Report Share Posted October 21, 2001 Hi Jan, Doesn't the second story suggest that what really matters is constant attention? Desire is one possible cause of constant attention, but not the only one. This is a good thing, if true, because it's impossible to want what we want to want, but it's relatively easy to increase attention through force of habit. Nisargadatta Maharaj used his own approaching death to illustrate this point in the excerpt from The Ultimate Medicine that I posted on the website a few weeks ago. He said: " A patient who is suffering from cancer is, as it were, all the time silently chanting 'I'm dying from cancer'; and that chant proceeds without any efforts. Similarly, in your case: Take up that chant 'I am consciousness.' That chant, too, should go on without any effort. One who is constantly awake in his true nature - having this knowledge about himself - is liberated. " The excerpt is here: http://www.realization.org/page/doc1/doc100a.htm Best regards, Rob - " Jan Sultan " <swork <sworkalpha Sunday, October 21, 2001 2:01 AM Longing and Awakening > Longing and Awakening > > A disciple went to his master and said to him... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2001 Report Share Posted October 21, 2001 At 10/21/2001-09:28 AM Rob Sacks wrote: ><Realization > >Re: Longing and Awakening > >Hi Jan, > >Doesn't the second story suggest that what really matters >is constant attention? Desire is one possible cause of >constant attention, but not the only one. Hi Rob, The mind has the habit of repeatedly going towards the most important thing going on in your life. For example if you have a major disease or a court case or are in love. Once the 'God' bug has bitten you, from my own experience, nothing else matters. Everything else pales in significance. For me it is like a punishment for neglecting God for 30 years. Now I have no choice. What can I or anyone else do after 'tasting' God? Everything else seems so boring, so petty, so insignificant. ______________________ With Love, Cyber Dervish ```````````````````````````````````````` Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2001 Report Share Posted October 22, 2001 Dear Jan, You're lucky. This is grace, I think. Ramana Maharshi says something somewhere about God taking you in his jaws like a tiger and then you're lost. Rob > > Hi Rob, > > The mind has the habit of repeatedly going towards the most important thing > going on in your life. For example if you have a major disease or a court > case or are in love. > Once the 'God' bug has bitten you, from my own experience, nothing else > matters. Everything else pales in significance. For me it is like a > punishment for neglecting God for 30 years. Now I have no choice. What can > I or anyone else do after 'tasting' God? Everything else seems so boring, > so petty, so insignificant. > ______________________ > With Love, > Cyber Dervish > ```````````````````````````````````````` > > > ..........INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LIST.......... > > Email addresses: > Post message: Realization > Un: Realization- > Our web address: http://www.realization.org > > By sending a message to this list, you are giving > permission to have it reproduced as a letter on > http://www.realization.org > ................................................ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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