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 ...
In India a sage was passing through the streets of a large city. A lady approached him and asked him to go with her to her house. She beseeched him to be kind enough to visit her home. He went with her, and when at her home, she brought the sage a cup of milk. Now this milk was boiling in a pot and there was a good deal of cream gathered on the top of the pot, and when the milk was poured into the cup, all the cream fell into the cup. In India, women do not like to part with cream, and so it worried her, disturbed her very much to see that nice cream fell into the cup and she exclaimed, "O dear me, dear me." She added sugar to the milk and then handed the beautiful cup full of milk to the stage. He took it from her, placed it on a table and began to talk about something. The lady thought that the sage did not drink the milk because it was too hot. At last he was ready to leave the lady's house, and she said, "O sir, will you do me the favour of drinking this milk." The monk replied, “Goddess, it is not worthy of being touched by a monk." She said, "Why, what is the reason?" He replied, "When you poured the milk, you added sugar and cream, and you added something more still, you added 'Dear me'; and milk to which 'Dear me' has been added I will not have." She was abashed at the answer, and the sage left the house.
Giving milk to the sage was all right, but to add 'Dear me' was wrong. So Vedanta says, do work, entertain desires, but when you are doing something, why should your heart break. Do not add that. Never, never add that to the act. Do the thing; but do it unattended as it were; do not lose your balance; adjust yourself to circumstances and you will see that when you do things in the right spirit, all your works will be crowned with success, most marvelously and wonderfully.
MORAL: As charity given with narrow heart yields but little fruit, so work, done half-heartedly, brings no good reward; hence to be crowned with success, earnestness and right spirit in work are necessary.