Passage 9

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In plain words

One day Ubhayabhāratī was going with her women disciples to the Gaṅgā to bathe. On the way, on a sandbank, a sannyāsī (his name was Sarvasaṅga Parityāgī) had put the pot he drank water from under his head and was meditating with his eyes closed. Ubhayabhāratī saw him. She was telling her disciples, so that he could hear: ‘His name is Sarvasaṅga Parityāgī. For fear that someone will take it if he sets it aside, he has put the pot he drinks water from under his head. How can people with so much attachment to a paltry pot be Sarvasaṅga Parityāgīs?’ The sannyāsī heard those words. He opened his eyes and looked. Laughing among themselves, they all went on to the Gaṅgā. Having bathed, they were coming back. Seizing this moment, the sannyāsī watched for the time of their coming and flung that pot hard down at their feet. He did this to prove that he was a renouncer. Ubhayabhāratī saw this: ‘Alas! I thought there was just one fault in this man. There are two faults in him! Out of attachment he put the pot under his head. Because we spoke this way, he threw this pot away out of Ahaṅkāra. In this Sarvasaṅga Parityāgī there are both Ahaṅkāra and attachment. He is no Sarvasaṅga Parityāgī,’ she said. Then that swami, recognising this Satya, came running and fell at Ubhayabhāratī's feet: ‘Mother! You yourself are my guru. With my mind I remember the divine. With my words I repeat Satya. But in action I fail to practise it. From this day on, through mind, word and body, I shall make all my actions full. I shall make them content. This is my purity of thought, word and deed’: with that he entered Ṛta. The moment he entered this Ṛta, Satya arose of its own accord. The moment this Satya arose, the Buddhi blossomed. The principle of yoga entered him and brought the senses under control. By the time he had reached these four, that great sage attained a mighty perfection.