Spiritual (Story) Message for the Day – Parable of The Brahmanishtha and His Disciple by Sri Swami Sivananda
Baba Times Digest© | 26 May 2014 15:44 EST | New York Edition
Parable of The Brahmanishtha and His Disciple
Divine Life Society Publication: Parables of Sivananda by Sri Swami Sivananda
Once upon a time there lived a certain Brahmanishtha Guru. He was fully immersed in enlightening all humanity with his intuitive knowledge and experience, through all possible means, through delivering sermons, writing books, giving counsels, etc. He employed a certain disciple of his to take down notes, and compile the books. In course of time, the disciple virtually became a gramophone record, always repeating the words and expressions of the Guru. In so doing, he was puffed up with vanity and pride. He went about telling, "What does the Guru know? I remember by heart so many things. I can quote all the scriptures. I am a full-fledged Jnani who knows everything." In short, he became a renegade.
At one time, one of the Guru's devotees was bereaved of a family member. The Guru pitched upon that renegade-disciple and asked him to condole for the bereaved family. The disciple duly went to the bereaved family and began in right earnest to deliver a Vedantic sermon. It all looked like a deaf man referring to cross-purposes. The inmates of the house were still putting on a sad face. All on a sudden, the Guru appeared in person before them. His very presence made them cheerful and happy and forget the loss of the member of their family. The Guru spoke but a word or two; and all of them were instantaneously transformed.
Remember the Kenopanishad, "Which one cannot think with the mind; by which the mind is known" etc.
Intellectual and theoretical philosophers live in vain in this world. They are of no use to humanity. Their talks do fall on the ears of the public like the Vedantic sermon given by the disciple to the bereaved family.
Can the moon say that it shines by its own light, that it helps you with its own light, that its light is superior to that of the sun? When the sun rises, the truth of the greatness of moon's light is plainly known.
So too where there is intuitive experience and knowledge, knowledge arising by itself in an experiencing heart, of what use is the knowledge of the brain?
Sages and saints and men of realization, live to enlighten all humanity. Even if they keep quiet, their very presence is able to transform all humanity, whereas a dry intellect cannot enlighten even one individual.
O man! Forget your intellectual attainments. The knowledge that you possess is not yours, but it belongs to the Lord. Acknowledge His superiority and submit to His will.
Excerpts from:
Parable of The Brahmanishtha and His Disciple: Parables of Sivananda by Sri Swami Sivananda
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