Story 151 - Thought the index of Man's Nature

A thief related the way he once managed to break into the house of a rich man and steal away the jewellery of the house. He said that he came to know about the jewellery that this rich man had got recently into his house by some means. He went to break into the house, but could not devise any method or means of doing it. By thinking and thinking again he made a plan; he saw that near the house there was a gigantic tree growing, and he saw that this tree was opposite the window of the third storey of the house. Then he devised the plan to put a swing at night, when it was dark to put a rope at the top of the tree, and he made a kind of trapeze, and he began to swing upon the trapeze, went on swinging and swinging in that hot country. It was summer, and he had come to know that people of the house slept on the fifth storey, they were not on the third storey. When the trapeze reached the window, he gave it a kick, and he kicked it a second time, and at the third kick window-sash flew back. Now in the seventh or eighth attempt, by making the window-sash or door fall down he entered the house, and there he had some ropes with him, he let down the ropes and drew up two or three of his companions. Then he began to think within himself of the place where the jewellery was expected to be found. He concentrated his mind; his mind was all merged in concentration. There he said that the people did not keep their jewellery at such places where the thieves might expect to find it; the people keep their jewellery where it is least expected to be found. Then he began to dig at a place where the jewellery was least expected to be found. 11 was buried in the ground, (That is the way people did in those days, and some do today in India, but now they are beginning to put their money in banks. The people used to keep their money buried under-ground) He got the money and then he heard a sound upstairs. He said that he and his companions, after they had got the money, heard that sound, and that sound sent a thrill throughout their body. Their whole being was throbbing, shaking, quivering, shivering; they were trembling from head to foot. Then he said that that was a time of death. They found themselves almost dead, and there they said that even a small rat might come and kill them. The sound, in fact, was the sound of rats only. There he said that he repented, he prayed to

God, he gave up his body and resigned himself entirely to God. There he resigned himself, repented and asked God to forgive him, and there was he in a state of Samadhi in which the mind was no mind, all selfish interests were gone. Here he was in a very queer, wonderful state of mind, he and all his companions. There he prayed, "O God! save me and I shall become a hermit, I shall become a Sannyasi, I shall become a monk, I shall devote my life entirely to your service, O Lord! Save me, save me." Here was offered a most fervent, heartfelt prayer, a most sincere prayer that came from the bottom of his heart and soul. Here was prayer that sounded through the depth of his whole being; merged in God he was at that time. What was the result? All sound subsided, and he and his companions came out of the house safe.

Do not draw any inferences from the external actions of people. If a man commits murder or theft, you ought not to look down upon him. Judge not things from the external actions; man is not what his actions are, man is what his thoughts are. A man who lives in a house of ill-fame may be a saint.

MORAL: The true index of man's real nature is his thought and not his external actions and behaviour.

Vol. 1 (254-256)