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 235 - Example of running water
Your hand may be fair and strong with pure blood in it. But, if you tie a tight bandage, blood circulation of the hand will stop, and at the same time it will become dirty and impure with the result that the hand will be dried up and thinned. Similarly, those countries which considered themselves to be well off and prosperous and did not like the idea of maintaining contact with the foreigners, taking them to be untouchable or inferior, were themselves segregated with the result that their country starved and they had to face poverty and want. There is a famous saying: “Running water is pure and stagnant water becomes dirty and impure”.
It is, therefore, better that the river should continue to flow and the man should continue to progress. If you observe minutely, you will see that those countries which are well off today achieved their affluence by their continued efforts for progress. Take, for example, America. Nearly 45,000 Americans daily stay in Paris.