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 ...
Once a Swami went to a goldsmith and said to him, "Bring out your best ring and put it on the finger of God." Then he went to the shoemaker and said to him, "Bring your best shoes and put them on the feet of God." Then he proceeded to the tailor and to him he said, "Put your best suit on the body of God," thereby meaning his body. When the people heard this, they called him a blasphemer and said, "Away with him, he must be put in prison." Before they took him away, the Swami asked for an audi¬ence, saying that he wanted to tell them something before he was thrown into prison. He said to them, "Whose world is this?" They answered, "God‟s”. "Whose are the stars and the sun?" "God's." "Whose are are the fields and all they contain?" "God's." "Do you believe this?" They answered "Most certainly, that is the truth." He then said, "Whose body is this?" and they said, "God's"—"Whose feet?" "God's". "Whose finger?" "God's." It was God's indeed. Since by their own reasoning he brought them to see that what he had said was right, of course nothing could be done to him.
They were ignorant ones and had not looked as deeply as had the Swami.
MORAL: Because everything is God's, therefore the body of every individual is also God's.