Vivekananda Mailing List-4/9/04

[Guest guest]

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The fox is considered very unholy by the Mohammedans and by the Hindus.

Also, if a dog touches any bit of food, it has to be thrown out, it

cannot be eaten by any man. In a certain Mohammedan house a fox entered

and took a little bit of food from the table, ate it up, and fled. The

man was a poor man, and had prepared a very nice feast for himself, and

that feast was made unholy, and he could not eat it. So he went to a

Mulla, a priest, and said, " This has happened to me; a fox came and

took a mouthful out of my meal. What can be done? I had prepared a

feast and wanted so much to eat it, and now comes this fox and destroys

the whole affair. " The Mulla thought for a minute and then found only

one solution and said, " The only way for you is to get a dog and make

him eat a bit out of the same plate, because dogs and foxes are

eternally quarrelling. The food that was left by the fox will go into

your stomach, and that left by the dog will go there too, and both will

be purified. " We are very much in the same predicament. This is a

hallucination that we are imperfect; and we take up another, that we

have to practice to become perfect. Then one will chase the other, as

we can use one thorn to extract another and then throw both away. There

are people for whom it is sufficient knowledge to hear, " Thou art

That " . With a flash this universe goes away and the real nature shines,

but others have to struggle hard to get rid of this idea of bondage.