What exactly does this story mean?

[Guest guest]

BEFORE THE LAW.

 

Before the law stands a doorkeeper. To this doorkeeper there comes a man

from the country and prays for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper

says that he cannot grant admittance at the moment. The man thinks it over

and then asks if he will be allowed in later. 'It is possible,' says the

doorkeeper, 'but not at the moment.' Since the gate stands open, as usual,

and the doorkeeper steps to one side, the man stoops to peer through the

gateway into the interior .Observing that, the doorkeeper laughs and says:

'If you are so drawn to it, just

try to go in despite my veto. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only

the least of the doorkeepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper

after another, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is

already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look at him.' These are

difficulties the man from the country has not expected; the Law, he thinks,

should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone, but as he now

takes a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, with his big sharp

nose and long, thin, black

Tartar beard, he decides that it is better to wait until he gets permission

to enter.

 

The doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down at one side of

the door. There he sits for days and years. He makes many attempts to be

admitted, and wearies the doorkeeper by his importunity. The doorkeeper

frequently has little interviews with him, asking him questions about his

home and many other things, but the questions are put indifferently, as

great lords put them, and always finish with the statement that he cannot be

let in yet. The man, who has furnished hinself with many things for his

journey, sacrifices all he has, however valuable, to bribe the doorkeeper.

The doorkeeper accepts

everything, but always with the remark: 'I am only taking it to keep you

from thinking you have omitted anything.'

 

During these many years the man fixes hisattention almost continuously on

the doorkeeper. He forgets the other doorkeepers, and this first one seems

to him the sole obstacle preventing access to the Law. He curses his bad

luck, in his early years boldly and loudly; later,as he grows old, he only

grumbles to himself. He becomes childish, and since in his yearlong

contemplation of the doorkeeper he has come to know even the fleas in his

fur collar, he begs the fleas as well to help him and to change the

doorkeeper's mind. At length his eyesight begins to fail, and he does not

know whether the world is really darker or whether his eyes are only

deceiving him. Yet in his darkness he is now aware of a radiance that

streams inextinguishably from the gateway of the Law. Now he has not very

long to live.

 

Before he dies, all his experiences in these long years gather themselves in

his head to one point, a question he has not yet asked the doorkeeper. He

waves him nearer, since he can no longer raise his stiffening body. The

doorkeeper has to bend low toward him, for the difference in height between

them has altered much to the man's disadvantage. 'What do you want to know

now?' asks the doorkeeper; 'you are insatiable.' 'Everyone strives to reach

the Law,' says the man, 'so how does it happen that for all these many years

no one but myself has everbegged for admittance?' The doorkeeper recognizes

that the man has reached his end, and, to let his failing senses catch the

words, roars in his ear; 'No one else could ever be admitted here, since

this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it.

[Guest guest]

> " Swaminathan Venkataraman " <nachiketas

>Ramakrishna

>ramakrishna , vedanta

>[ramakrishna] What exactly does this story mean?

>Mon, 04 Oct 1999 13:01:22 PDT

>

> BEFORE THE LAW.

>

>Before the law stands a doorkeeper. To this doorkeeper there comes a man

>from the country and prays for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper

>says that he cannot grant admittance at the moment. The man thinks it over

>and then asks if he will be allowed in later. 'It is possible,' says the

>doorkeeper, 'but not at the moment.' Since the gate stands open, as usual,

>and the doorkeeper steps to one side, the man stoops to peer through the

>gateway into the interior .Observing that, the doorkeeper laughs and says:

>'If you are so drawn to it, just

>try to go in despite my veto. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only

>the least of the doorkeepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper

>after another, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is

>already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look at him.' These are

>difficulties the man from the country has not expected; the Law, he thinks,

>should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone, but as he now

>takes a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, with his big sharp

>nose and long, thin, black

>Tartar beard, he decides that it is better to wait until he gets permission

>to enter.

>

>The doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down at one side of

>the door. There he sits for days and years. He makes many attempts to be

>admitted, and wearies the doorkeeper by his importunity. The doorkeeper

>frequently has little interviews with him, asking him questions about his

>home and many other things, but the questions are put indifferently, as

>great lords put them, and always finish with the statement that he cannot

>be

>let in yet. The man, who has furnished hinself with many things for his

>journey, sacrifices all he has, however valuable, to bribe the doorkeeper.

>The doorkeeper accepts

>everything, but always with the remark: 'I am only taking it to keep you

>from thinking you have omitted anything.'

>

>During these many years the man fixes hisattention almost continuously on

>the doorkeeper. He forgets the other doorkeepers, and this first one seems

>to him the sole obstacle preventing access to the Law. He curses his bad

>luck, in his early years boldly and loudly; later,as he grows old, he only

>grumbles to himself. He becomes childish, and since in his yearlong

>contemplation of the doorkeeper he has come to know even the fleas in his

>fur collar, he begs the fleas as well to help him and to change the

>doorkeeper's mind. At length his eyesight begins to fail, and he does not

>know whether the world is really darker or whether his eyes are only

>deceiving him. Yet in his darkness he is now aware of a radiance that

>streams inextinguishably from the gateway of the Law. Now he has not very

>long to live.

>

>Before he dies, all his experiences in these long years gather themselves

>in

>his head to one point, a question he has not yet asked the doorkeeper. He

>waves him nearer, since he can no longer raise his stiffening body. The

>doorkeeper has to bend low toward him, for the difference in height between

>them has altered much to the man's disadvantage. 'What do you want to know

>now?' asks the doorkeeper; 'you are insatiable.' 'Everyone strives to reach

>the Law,' says the man, 'so how does it happen that for all these many

>years

>no one but myself has everbegged for admittance?' The doorkeeper recognizes

>that the man has reached his end, and, to let his failing senses catch the

>words, roars in his ear; 'No one else could ever be admitted here, since

>this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it.

>

>------

>Sri Ramakrishnaye Namah

>Vivekananda Centre London

>http://www.btinternet.com/~vivekananda/

><< text3.html >>

 

 

Respected Sir,

 

I am shashi from LA, USA. I am regularly reading all of your mails.

Today I read the " before the law " story. But I couldn't understand what the

meaning it is giving. I request you to please explain the meaning of the

story. I will be waiting curiously about the meaning.

 

Namaste!

 

shashi.