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 ...
Two men were being carried down by the swift current of the Niagara. One of them found a big log and caught hold of it with the desire to be saved; the other man found a tiny rope, thrown down for their rescue by the people on the bank. Happily he caught hold of this rope, which was not heavy like the log of wood, and though the rope was apparently very wavering and frail, he was saved; but the man who caught hold of the big log of wood was carried off with the log by the rapid current into the yawning grave of surging waters beneath the roaring Falls.
Similarly, you trust in these outward names, fame riches3 wealth, land, and prosperity. These seem to be big like the log of wood, but the saving principle they are not. The saving principle is like the fine thread. It is not material, you cannot feel and handle it, you cannot touch it; the subtle principle, the subtle truth is very fine, that is the rope which will save you. All these worldly things on which you depend will simply work your ruin and throw you into a deep abyss of hopelessness, anxiety and pain.
Beware, beware. Have a stronghold of the Truth. Believe more in the Truth than in outside objects. The law of nature is that whenever a man believes practically in the outside objects and wealth, he must fail. That is the law. Trust in the Divinity and you are safe.
MORAL: Trust in Divinity and not in outside objects is the right belief.