Parables of Rama
by Swami Rama Tirtha | 102,836 words
Stories in English used by Swami Rama to illustrate the highest teaching of Vedanta. The most difficult and intricate problems of philosophy and abstract truths, which may very well tax the brains of the most intellectual, are thus made not only simple and easy to understand but also brought home to us in a concrete form in such an interesting and ...
Socrates had a wife, the most undesirable in the world. One day he was thinking very deeply, was philosophising; and his wife, as was her wont, approached him and spoke in very harsh, rough, language; she reviled and insulted him and called him names: she demanded his attention; she asked him to attend to her, to do this and that thing; but Socrates went on pilosophising. His method was never to leave a problem until it was solved.
The wife roared and stormed at him, and still he did not listen. Then getting enraged, she took up a basin filled with dirty water and poured it upon his head. Was Socrates ruffled or annoyed? Not in the least. He smiled and laughed and said, “Today is proved the saying, „Oft-times when it roars it rains‟."
Always when she roared, it did not rain, but today she roared and stormed, and at the same time there came rain also. After that remark, he continued his philosophizing.
This shows that people must not become despondent about their capability of overcoming their temper. If one man, Socrates, could get such complete control of his temper, then all can. Even today are there not people who have control over their temper, and over their habits? Most certainly there are such people, and you can do this also by trying.
The way to realize the truth, or to realize your oneness with the Divinity, the way to realize the union with the All, or your sameness with the whole world, the way to this Divine realization of the Self can be made smoother through your family ties if you will.
MORAL: Family ties instead of being obstacles, can be utilized as means to self-control and self-realization