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 ...
There was a man who wore round his neck a most precious and long necklace in invaluable garland. It slipped down the back of his body by some means, and he forgot it. Not finding it dangling on his breast, he began to search for it. The search was all in vain. He shed tears and bewailed the loss of his priceless necklace. He asked someone to find it for him, if possible. Well, said someone to him, “Can I find the necklace for you, what will you give me? The man answered, "I will give you anything you ask," The man reaching his hand to the neck of his friend and touching the necklace said, "Here it is, here is the necklace. It was not lost, it was still around your neck, but you had forgotten it." What a pleasant surprise!
Similarly, your Godhead is not outside yourself, you are already God, you are the same.
It is strange oblivion that makes you forgetful of your real Self, your real Godhead. Remove this ignorance, dispel this darkness, away with it and you are God already. By your nature you are free; you have forgotten yourself in your state of slavery. A king may fall asleep and find himself a beggar, he may dream that he is beggar, but that can in no way interfere with his real sovereignty!
MORAL: It is due to ignorance that we search for the Atman which is already with us, nay, our own Self.