Passage 2

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

“Bhikṣānnaṃ deharakṣārthaṃ”: you must eat to protect the body; eat when you are hungry. Beyond that, you must not eat for the sake of tastes.

The third is the flower of compassion for all beings. You must have compassion for all living beings. You must hate no one. This is just what the Bhagavad Gītā called “Adveṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṃ”. You must live with Prema towards all. A man named Abou Ben Adhem was always serving the poor and the helpless. Every day he served the old and the disabled he came across in the bazaar, and reached home very late at night. One night, when he reached home, he found a celestial woman writing something. He waited a while, and then, with humility and respect: “Mother! Who are you? What is it you are writing?” he asked. She: “Dear son! I am a celestial maiden. I am writing down the names of those who love God,” she said. “Is my name in it, by any chance?” he asked. She answered that it was not. The next night too, when he reached home, he found the celestial maiden writing something again. “Mother! What is it you are writing now?” he asked. “Dear son! Yesterday I wrote the names of those who love God. Now I am writing down the names of those whom God loves,” she said. “Is my name at least in this one?” he asked. “On this list your name comes first of all,” she said. The inner meaning of this is that the service you do for others is greater than all worship. Service is far greater than the nine paths of Bhakti called śravaṇam, kīrtanam, Viṣṇusmaraṇam, pādasevanam, vandanam, arcanam, dāsyam, sneham and ātmanivedanam. It was only because Abou Ben Adhem was always serving others that he became worthy of God's Prema. God loves everyone in the world. Prema itself is His svarūpa. But to those who have compassion for all beings and serve them, He gives His very Self.

The fourth is the flower of forbearance. They said, ‘Kṣamā puṣpaṃ viśeṣataḥ’. This one is most important; it is supremely dear to God. However much the Kauravas tormented them, even when they humiliated Draupadī, their wedded wife, in the full assembly, Dharmaja did not lose his forbearance in the least. That very forbearance protected the Pāṇḍavas and made them shine as models for all.