In English
There are many things thatwe do not know and about which we will be having doubts. With faith and confidence and thinking earnestly, we must try to clear those doubts and try to be happy. Our teach nothing but truth and things are explained so clearly that no doubts need be left. These doubts come on account of the distorted meanings we give to the words or sayings of the . I shall give you a small example to explain the relationship of with other things in the world. A prince, son of a king, once went to the forest in his princely attire. There was a sage in a hermitage. He saw this prince and asked him, “You appear to be a prince, whose son are you?” The prince replied, “Our kingdom is , and I am the son of King .” The sage was much astonished. He asked himself in disbelief: “Is there a kingdom like ? Is there a king by name ? Perhaps he is only using words like this. I don’t think there is such a king living in this world.” Then the prince said, “Oh! sage, it is true, our kingdom is and all the people in our kingdom are ; they have full control and mastery over their . Not only the people but every living being in the kingdom is a . The king is , and the king’s son, myself, am also a .” The sage was much astonished. He thought: “We sages are going through severe austerities and efforts for controlling our senses and even then, we are not able to succeed; how can the king, the prince and the people of this kingdom control their senses?” He wanted to test it. Then he said, “Oh! Prince, give me your princely dress and take my dress yourself.” Because he was the prince of , he at once gave his dress to the sage. The sage then brought the blood of an animal, poured that blood on the dress given to him by the prince and with that dress, went to the kingdom of . He entered the kingdom, and at the main gate, told the gatekeepers, “Your prince came to our forest; he was hunting in the forest and was killed by a beast. Therefore, I have taken his dress and have come here to show it to you as proof of the death of your prince.” The gate keepers laughed at him and said, “So you have come for this purpose?” With cheer on their faces, they sent him in. He went to the king. As soon as he went to the king and showed those clothes to the king, he said, “Oh! King, your son was killed by a beast. I have brought his clothes.” The king also merely smiled and said, “Oh! He is not my son, nor am I his father. We are just like birds on a tree that will come and rest themselves on the tree in the evening and will fly away as soon as it is morning, each in its own way. Likewise, on the tree of this , all of us have come to stay here for some time and the bird of my son has flown away. That is all to it.” The sage thought that perhaps the king, for some reason, might not have sufficient love for the son, and he wanted to show the clothes to the queen. He thought that because she is the mother, she would certainly react with grief on seeing these clothes. He went to the queen and showed the clothes to her and told her, “Oh! mother, your son has been killed and he will not be returning.” Then the queen also smiled and said, “All these or living beings are pilgrims in the or . We have come on a pilgrimage to this , and we are taking our rest in this . After taking rest for some time, everybody will leave the and go his own way. In that way, we are all living in this . There is, in fact, no relationship as father, mother, and son.” Then the sage thought that if he went to the wife of that prince, she might certainly be stricken with grief because it is her husband that was dead. He took the clothes to the wife of that prince and wept, showing those clothes to her. She said: “, you wear the dress of a but the way of your weeping and crying appears to be like that of an ordinary man. Will you please tell me why you are weeping?” Then he told her that her husband has been killed. She also smiled and said, “There is a tree in a forest and one of its branches will be breaking and will fall in a stream. There is another tree in that forest and the branch of that tree also will be breaking and will fall in another stream. These two branches will go along these two streams and they will come together in a big stream, will move together for a while and after some time they will get separated and each will drift in its own way. In the same manner, I am the branch of a certain tree and my husband is the branch of another tree. We have for some time come together and now we are separated. There is nothing to be astonished in this. For these branches which are flowing in the stream of life, it is inevitable that they will have , union, and or separation as well.” Then the sage thought that what the prince told him was entirely true and returned to his hermitage. He wanted still to test the mind of the prince; and as soon as he went to him, began to weep very loudly. The prince told him, “Sage, your way of weeping astonishes me. Will you please tell me the reason for your weeping?” Then the sage told him, “Prince; I went to your kingdom. Your king was killed, your queen was killed, your wife was also killed; that is why I am weeping.” Then the prince taught a lesson to the sage by asking: “Who is the king? Who is the queen? Who is the princess? They are not related to me. The only king is Himself. It is He that gave the kingdom to us, and it is He that has taken it away from us. Therefore, I need not feel sorry for this. The only thing we should take care of is to do good deeds in this life and try to get salvation. Therefore, I do not weep or feel sorry on account of the news that is brought by you.” Then he taught him that there is no mother, there is no father, there is no brother, and there is no spouse. There is a verse to this effect and he taught that verse to that sage. “.” This life is just like a water bubble and we should not consider that this has some relationship with other . This body is a leather bag having nine holes - it is not a gem that has got great effulgence. It will be giving out foul smell every moment - there is no good fragrance in it. So we have to clean this body every day and also decorate it. In this body, there is God. If God goes out of this body, there is no body at all. This body is such that it will make even sacred things impious.