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 242 - Expansion of little self into Universal Self
There is a story. A saint was highly evolved, so much so, that he had attained a stage wherein the worldly objects could automatically serve his daily needs. Once, a man brought him a plate full of Batashas (an Indian sweet). The saint on seeing them expressed a desire to have two Batashas for himself also. The man then gave him only two Batashas and, considering him to be a greedy person, did not think it worthwhile to give him the whole of it and took the remaining pieces back with him. You will thus see that the saint, by expressing his desire for the Batashas, was deprived of the remaining pieces and was also degraded in the eyes of the man who had brought the entire quantity for him alone. Similarly, even if you deserve a thing, you should not desire it. By so doing, you lose your right to possess it and also you degrade yourself in the eyes of others.
If, however, you want to have the right to be the master of the worldly possessions, you should establish and merge your little (individual) self in the real (universal) Self. It is only, then, that you can become the master of the world, not only of this world, but also of the other worlds. Nay, you will become the Master of the whole Universe, only if you establish yourself in your Atman, the Real Self.