We live in our little worlds with our special likes and dislikes. Our world is warm, beautiful comfortable, cosy and ideal for us. It gives us maximum happiness. And we do not like anyone telling us that there is a better world out there. We would rather stick to what we have and where we are, even if there is paradise around the corner.
A drug addict thinks that he has the best life. He lives in his colourful, confused world and waits for the next fix. Craving for the drug, getting the money for it, the physical setbacks of using drugs are nothing to him. His world is the fix and the swimming psychedelic colours. When we try and explain to him that he damages himself and his life and family and there is a better life out there without drugs, he is enraged. His world is challenged and he clings to it.
The same is the problem with the alcoholic, the gambler, the sex addict, the sadist and others. These are extreme cases and understandable. But we are not addicts or perverts. We are normal people. But are we like them? Yes. We are! We are stuck in our little set ways and habits and grouch and fight when someone tries to change them even a little bit. Our routine worlds of gossip, grouching, self destruction, judgemental ways, overbearing attitudes, bullying – we hold on to all these with both hands. We suffer from the stress in life, bad relationships and sleepless nights due to our behaviour and habits. When we are told that better things like love, compassion, patience, peace are out there and we can get them, we dig our heels in and stick to our pain and stresses. We are so much used to the pleasure of our pain. When we are approached by others and taught about the spiritual path, we refuse to consider what they say and live in our comfortable miserable worlds. Logic tells us that definitely there are always better things and better levels in life, but we do not wish to consider them. Let us see the lives of two monks who were friends:
Two monks lived in a monastery. They did all the daily chores and their spiritual practices together. They were great friends. They had a pact of friendship which extended beyond death. They decided that after death and when they would be reborn, the one who remembered the past birth would search out the other friend and remind him of their past spiritual practices and aspirations to achieve salvation.
With the passage of time, both of them died, each within a few months of the other. One was reborn as a saint and the other as a worm who lived in a pile of dung. The saint has memories and knowledge of the past birth and he began searching for his friend. He searched in the divine realm and did not find him there. Then he searched for him in at the level of man, animal, birds, insects and plants. Finally he found his friend reborn as a worm in a dung pile.
The saint said to the worm: O worm, I am your friend from the past birth. We had both decided that the one who has memories of past life will search for the other and remind him of the spiritual practices and goal of salvation. I recall our past and have come to remind you. So please come with me. Let us do our meditation together so that when you are reborn again you will remember who you are and join me again in human body.
The worm screamed: Go away! Go away! This dung pile is my paradise. I am the most happy here with my wife and family. I await the birth of my grandchildren. I wish to play with them and be here. The saint said: This is a pile of dung which is rotten and stinking. Let me get you out of here and we will go to my ashram which is clean and fragrant with jasmine creepers and together we will be happy again.
The saint tried to pick up the worm but the worm clung tight to the dung pile. The harder the saint tried, the harder the worm stuck to the dung pile! His heaven was right there amidst the stench and gas of the rotting dung. He was the most happy with his form as a worm and with his little world. He refused to believe that there was a better world out there.
The saint tried to pick up the worm but the worm clung tight to the dung pile. The harder the saint tried, the harder the worm stuck to the dung pile! His heaven was right there amidst the stench and gas of the rotting dung. He was the most happy with his form as a worm and with his little world. He refused to believe that there was a better world out there.
How many of us cling to our pile of dung?
