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 231 - A gardener's devotion to duty
A man was planting a garden? Somebody asked him, "What are you doing, old man? Will you be able to enjoy the fruits of this garden? Your one leg is already in the grave. Don't you remember the slaying of a saint?"
"Oh Counselor, how can I build a house in this desolate world? When the labourers come to construct my house, I am reminded of the grave-diggers".
The gardener replied, "Others had planted gardens, and we enjoyed the fruits. Now, 1 am planting the garden, and others will enjoy its fruits after me". That is how the business of this world goes on. Did Christ and. Mohammed enjoy the fruit of their own effort themselves? They willingly made themselves manure for the garden of this world. They could not eat the fruits of the garden planted by them. The fruits which we are enjoying today, even after centuries, are the result of the labour and efforts of the great Rishis of yore, who reduced themselves to dust in the interest of the welfare of their gardens. This is the real motto of religion.