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 201 - The Large-Hearted Abraham Lincoln

In spite of their being non-vegetarians, they love all the living beings. The American President Abraham Lincoln was once going to the Senate House. On his way he saw a pig in the marshes. The more the pig tried to extricate himself, the deeper he went. The President immediately ran to save the pig. In his soiled clothes he, thereafter, went to the Senate House. The senators were taken aback. The President narrated the entire incident to set their doubts at rest. They started praising the President for his kindness. He told them not to do so, because he had not, in fact, shown any mercy on the pig. He was pained to see the pig thus suffering. By helping the pig out of the marsh, he had only relieved himself of his affliction. He said that he was helping himself and not the pig. The real Vedanta is to consider the miseries of others, as your own. If you relieve others of their miseries, you will get the desired relief. If you are showing kindness to others you are doing kindness to your own self. This is practical Vedanta which you have to adopt in your actual life. Would a rich king or minister have done likewise? No, never. Please recall that your religion teaches you to be kind to all but you have drifted away from this tenet. All sorts of punishments have consequently been inflicted on you. Unless you follow the path of kindness and doing good to others, you cannot escape your miseries.

Vol. 4 (202-203)

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