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 ...
(A man who walked on the Waters)
There was a man who walked on the waters. A real saint laughed and asked him how long it took him to acquire this power. He replied that it took him seventeen years. The saint replied, "In seventeen years you have acquired a power worth two annas, we give two annas to a boatman and he ferries us across the river."
All personal power is limited, it binds you just as much as any possession or property binds you. Chains are chains whether of iron or gold; they enslave you all the same.
If these powers make a man so very holy, then dogs must be holy. Dogs smell out where the stag is. The dogs have the power of smell that man has not; hence they must be holy.
MORAL: Levitation or any other personal power does not make a man happy, holy or free; on the other hand, it limits and binds him, just as any other possession does.