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 ...

Story 134 - Commandments without Reason

Don't must be my Name

A child being once asked his name replied: "Mamma always calls me Don't! That must be my name."

So have people lost their real Self under the weight of rules and orders, and they fancy themselves to be merest name and form.

All our "Do's" and "Don'ts" appeal only to the animalily in man. When we tell even a boy or girl "Thou shalt do this or that," the rational in him or her resents or rebels because of being ignored and slighted. Our imperative commandments are like trying to drive away the horse (the animality) from its rider (rationality). We teach children the spirit of rebellion in trying to rule them or exercise on them any authority other than their own reason. Where forced rule does not create rebellion, it creates decay and death. According to a law of Psychology, the more indirect hint in the normal state of the man, the stronger is its effect. In our forced moral teachings the ordinary person naturally takes a suggestion to the contrary. Desire for anything is increased by prohibition or condemnation. MORAL: Commandments and prohibitions without giving reasons generally aggravate evil or produce contrary effects.

Vol. 2 (309, 308)

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