Passage 10

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In plain words

This wells up from our heart with feelings that are wholly natural. Here is a small example of this.

Self-confidence is very important

A guru living in a certain place was giving fine teaching of Jñāna to all the people who gathered there. In keeping with the culture of Bhārata, ‘a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water’, as the saying goes, the people who came for his darśan brought some fruits and offered them to the guru. That day, since a great deal of fruit had come in, the guru called a disciple close to him and told him to take the fruits inside, cut them up, put them on a tray, bring them back and share them out to everyone. That excellent disciple cut everything into pieces and came to the guru carrying them on a tray. ‘Swami! As you commanded. I have got them ready,’ he said. ‘Good! You share them out,’ said the teacher. “Whom should I give to first, Swami?” this disciple said. ‘My boy! Begin with the one you love most,’ said the guru. Everyone thought he would give to the guru first and then to all the rest; but the disciple did not do that. He ate three pieces himself. Everyone gathered round: ‘What is this? You are eating without giving any to the guru!’ they said. The disciple answered, ‘The guru's command was to give first to the one you love most. Whom else could I love more than myself?’ So he taught those disciples that self confidence is very important. Looking with an outward eye, we think there was no Bhakti in him because he did not give to the guru; but the story teaches us that the true mark of Bhakti here is this very thing: for his own inner contentment he showed the feeling he had in its true form. So we must not think people lack self-confidence merely because they do not bow to God, do not serve God, do not sing to God, do not go to temples or make pilgrimages. Self-confidence is something each person is to enjoy for himself; it can never be a thing to put on show. Though the feelings of individuals are many, Śaṅkara has been teaching in this principle of Bhaja Govinda the truth that the feeling called the principle of the Ātma is one and the same for all.