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 258 - The Story of Lot and his Wife
It has been mentioned in the ancient books that Lot and his family, including his wife and daughters, were going out of Sodom, leaving the city behind them. But Lot's wife turned back to see the city. The result was that, while others escaped, she immediately turned into a pillar of salt.
O dear! This story proves a law of Nature in respect of man. Lord Byron describes it thus:
"It is his nature to advance or die,
He stands not still, but decays or grows"
Just as a man is continuously growing in his size and intelligence from his very infancy, so, too, it is very necessary that he should also progress spiritually.
Remember that you will be crushed by the wheel of the Law of Nature, if you do not advance i.e., widen your circle of oneness with others. You will fall and face death and destruction. Advance or perish, is the grim watchword of Nature.
Like Lot's wife, when a man refuses to advance, change himself for the better, or to widen his circle to see fresh fields and pastures new, he is condemned. When an individual or a nation indulges in stagnation, or refuses to be progressive, the Divine Providence takes them to task. The individual has to suffer and the nation has to be punished or enslaved.