Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sutapa das
The mind of the spiritualist is compared to a great ocean. As the ocean is deep, the contemplations and thoughts of one on the spiritual path are also deep. As the ocean is clear, the spiritualist also has great clarity in his daily decisions and judgments. As the ocean is continually being filled by rivers but never overflows, similarly, the mind is constantly bombarded with various material desires but the spiritualist remains unaffected. This is quite amazing.
The rich man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least. We may have an abundance of possessions, good reputation amongst our social circle, nice relationships with those around us, but if our desires are endless we will never feel satisfied. In the world we live in enough is never enough. We fill the internal void by trying to accumulate and arrange externally.
Socrates was once in Athens when he passed a shop window. He stood there gazing intently at all the different items on display. This went on for a few hours. One man who had passed by a few times finally questioned the great philosopher. "Is there something you need - something I can get you? Maybe the shoes or those clothes?" Socrates replied to him - "No, No, I am simply amazed by seeing how many things there are here that I don't need!" So next time one of those desires pop up in the mind, we may want to consider whether to take it seriously or not.
