What progress mankind made so far?

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A dog went to the cremation ground. It picked up a sharp piece of bone from

which the flesh had been completely burnt off and started munching it. The sharp

edges of the bone pierced the dog’s mouth in many places and there was bleeding.

The dog dropped it, but seeing blood smeared all over it, it thought that the

blood was coming from the bone because of its ravenous munching. It licked the

blood and again started chewing the bone even more ravenously, with the result

that there were more wounds in its mouth and more bleeding. The foolish dog went

on repeating this process of dropping the bone, licking the blood and again

chewing the bone. Little did that

foolish dog realize that in fact the blood came from its own mouth and not from

the bone!

 

“A foolish dog picked up a bone,

Bereft of flesh because ‘twas burnt,

Masticated many a round

Till its mouth was filled with wounds,

Licked end praised the blood, its own,

‘No thing on earth equals this bone’,

-- ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’, verse 585

 

Similarly, when a man enjoys external objects, he only experiences a little of

the happiness that is already within him. But, on account of ignorance, he

thinks that the happiness comes from the external objects, and thus he behaves

like the dog in the story. Exactly like the dog that munched the bone again and

again, throughout his life man repeatedly searches for and accumulates external

objects. What is the result of all this? Alas! Untold heaps of misery, with a

few iotas of pleasure in between – that is all! Indeed, all this is ignorance,

otherwise called maya!

 

All the researches and efforts of mankind, from the stone age to the modern

atomic age, in different fields of endeavour, be they intellectual, scientific

or social – are they not all similar to the efforts of the dog which untiringly

munches the bone? Do not feel offended by this statement, which may seem to be a

sweeping one, for when told without reserve, this is the plain truth! Tell me,

what indeed has mankind done in the name of progress so far, other than

improving and accumulating external objects for the satisfaction of the five

senses? All the aforesaid human efforts are based upon nothing but the wrong

assumption that happiness comes from external objects. Is there any difference

between the dog which thinks that

more blood will come out of the dry bone the more it is munched, and the man who

thinks that humanity will be made increasingly happy by accumulating more and

more external objects through the improvements of scientific and industrial

progress? Certainly not!

 

Thus, not knowing the right path for obtaining everlasting happiness,

humanity has gone too far and is racing still further in the wrong

direction! There is no wrong in man’s love for happiness. It is his

birthright. It is in fact the birthright of all living beings. Thus

happiness should be obtained and should never be suppressed! But do not toil to

achieve objects of worldly pleasure, which give only an iota of fleeting

happiness. Direct all your efforts only to towards obtaining happiness in full.

By desiring petty external objects you get only a transient and limited

happiness. Therefore, be not a person of petty desire! Be a person of full

desire! Until perfect happiness is obtained, do not give up your efforts. Know

the way to experience always and uninterruptedly that happiness (ananda) which

is you,and which exists (sat) and shines (chit) within you as your real nature.

This is the goal supreme (purushartha), the very purpose for which you were

born.

 

Source: The Path of Sri Ramana Part 1 book by Sadhu Om