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 ...
Yajnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. He was a very rich man; he was the preceptor of one of the richest princes of India. At that time he wanted to divide his property between the two wives, and retire to the forest. Maitreyi declined to accept her portion, saying if this led to immortality, her husband would not give it up.
You see that in the heart of Maitreyi the idea arose how it was that her beloved husband, one of the richest men in all India, was going to give up all this wealth and adopt another kind of life. Surely no one ever leaves one kind of life for another unless there is more joy, more pleasure in the new life than in the old one. This showed that for her husband the kind of life he wanted to adopt was more pleasant and enjoyable than the kind of life he then lived. She reflected and asked her husband, "Is there more joy in spiritual wealth than in worldly wealth, or is it otherwise?"
Yajnavalkya replied, "The life of rich people is what it is, but in such life there is no real joy, no real happiness, no true freedom." Then Maitreyi said, "What is it the possession of which makes you altogether free, which makes you free from worldly greed and avarice? Explain to me this nectar of life, I want it"
All his wealth and property were made over to Katyayani, and this wife. Maitreyi got all his spiritual wealth. What was that spiritual wealth?
This passage has many meanings. Max Muller translates it one way and many Hindus another way. Both the translations are right.
According to one interpretation, "The cause of the husband being dear is not that he has some good attributes, or that there is anything particularly lovely in him, but he is dear because he serves as a mirror to the lady. As we see our own selves reflected in the mirror of her husband, and that is why she loves her husband, and that is why her husband is dear."
The other meaning is that, "The wife loves the husband not for the husband's sake, but for her own sake. She ought to see God, the true Divinity in the husband."
You know that if love is not reciprocated, then nobody loves. This shows that we love only ourselves as reflected in others. We want to see our true Self, the God within, and we never love anything for its own sake.
MORAL: Things are dear not for the sake of things but for the sake of Self, the Atman.