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Once King Yadu, the son of Yayaathi, saw in a forest a recluse saint [Dattatreya] and addressed him thus:
‘Sir, every human being is impelled to strive and act by a longing for any one or all of the goals of life – righteousness, wealth, the fulfillment of desire and liberation from ignorance and misery. But your attitude is quite different. You do not strive or act at all. I dare not say that you abstain from all actions owing to a lack of ability, skill, or understanding. You are indeed quite capable, energetic, and wise. Such as you are, why do you live in the forest, free from all desire? Even though you have neither kith and kin nor even a family, how could you be so blissful and self-contented?’
Dattatreya replied, ‘My bliss and contentment are the fruits of self-realisation. I have gained the necessary wisdom from the whole of creation, through 24 Gurus. I shall elaborate the same for you:
The earth teaches the course of dharma, the art of tolerance, and the art of steadfastly performing duty. One can learn patience and forgiveness from the earth. Like mountains and trees, one should devotedly dedicate oneself to the welfare of other living beings. Patience, forgiveness, and supporting others without any expectation of gratitude - these things I have learned from my Guru, the earth.
Air is pure and odorless in its characteristics, moving freely among all objects whilst remaining unaffected. The air teaches the value of remaining free from all contamination and staying clear of the material world's disturbances. When air blows out of control, the atmosphere becomes agitated; similarly, if the mind is continuously attracted and repelled by sense objects, it will be next to impossible to think of the Absolute Truth and the Supreme Absolute Reality.
Space has no boundaries and reaches beyond form and matter. Infinite in nature, clouds sometimes seem to cover the spacious sky, but yet the sky remains unaffected. In the same way, the Soul is never affected by the appearance of a material body. Like space, the Soul is omnipresent, all-pervading, and infinite. The emptiness of space teaches the sage that he should be free of emotions. In the all-pervading space, there exists clouds, stars, planets, dust-storms, and so on, but none of them touch it. So is the Great Soul, which, pervading all bodies of men and animals, of saints, sages, kings, madmen, sinners, and paupers, still remains untainted by any of them. So do I feel, having learned this lesson from space, my Guru Space.
The Sage is like water because he is free from all impurities, gentle and while speaking, creates a beautiful vibration like water flowing. By seeing, touching, or hearing such a saintly person, the living entity becomes clean as if coming in contact with pure water. From the water, I learned purity and the taste of tastelessness. As water is sweet and pure, so is Supreme Self. A man should manifest sweetness and purity in his conduct. I have therefore taken water as one of my Gurus.
Fire burns bright and is unsuppressed by anything. It has no extra storage place, keeps all inside itself, and can consume anything without getting soiled when it comes in contact with impure things. The Sage's glory is like fire; it is made brighter by austerities, his knowledge, and tapas, having no vessel other than his stomach. Although having no shape of its own, fire can assume any form through which it reveals itself. Similarly, having entered a particular body, the Soul reveals its traits through that body.
The appearance of moon waxes and wanes, yet despite this continuous change taking place, the moon itself remains unaffected by this process. Similarly, the Sage should not be affected by the continual transformation of the body from birth to death, including diseases and old age. As the moon is perfect, despite its waning and waxing, which in reality do not exist in it, so too is the Supreme Reality ever perfect, despite its seeming imperfections. This is what the moon, my Guru, has taught me.
The sun can reflect in many objects, but the actual sun is one and undivided. This teaches that the Supreme Consciousness is one and, though being reflected into various bodies, forever remains whole within Itself The sun evaporates water, and it returns water to earth in the form of rain without any attachment or entanglement. Similarly, the Sage can accept material things with his senses, but at the appropriate time, he returns these things as an act of duty, without getting attached to worldly sense objects. As the sun through its rays absorbs water from the earth, only to give it back in a cool and pure form, so ought a Great Soul take the things of the world, not for his own sake, but to give them back in a richer and better form. This is what my Guru, the sun, has taught me.
Once a devoted pigeon couple, along with their babies, lived happily in the jungle. The couple was engrossed in their love for each other and their infant babies. The love among them was increasing every day. One day the couple went out to bring food to their children. In the meanwhile, a bird-hunter came to their nest and caught the children in a net. When the couple returned, they saw their dear children caught in a net. Unable to live without them, the couple foolishly also jumped into the net trap. The bird-catcher returned home with the complete catch. This teaches that the pigeon story warns against developing obsessive love or attachments in the transient material world. The Sage is the one who refrains from undue attachment after attaining the rare privilege of a human body, because such a body may be used a vehicle for Liberation. Even after being born as an intelligent living being, if one lives in the clutches of possessiveness, it brings about spiritual destruction. Excessive attachment to and love for anything except wisdom, therefore, is a cause of bondage.
A python eats whatever comes its way and is satisfied whether it is sufficient or not, bitter or sweet, etc. Likewise, one should accept whatever one comes across in life with full acceptance and sense of natural contentment. While suffering the hardships and miseries in life, one should think that is simply due to the momentum of past karmas. A Sage is one who constantly remains a in fixed contemplation upon the Self and thus allows the snaring experiences and activities of the world to pass over him like evanescent dreams.
The ocean neither increases due to excessive inflow of rivers nor decreases due to the stoppage of rivers' flow, yet it maintains its level. The calm sea is never disturbed and it always remains within its boundaries (except with a natural catastrophe). The Sage should also be even-minded and in a state of calmness. The life of Sage remains balanced; life's joys do not excite him, nor do sorrows depress him. The wise Sage never transgresses the highest standards of morality. The depth of such a Sage's wisdom cannot be easily comprehended by anyone, just as hidden pearls at the ocean's depth are not easily discovered.
The moth is tempted by fire, and being attracted by the delightful beauty of flame, it jumps into it and gets incinerated within it. Similarly, a foolish man, enticed by the visual senses' illusory pleasures, gets caught in the ceaseless cycles of birth and death. This teaches us to control the sense of sight (and all other senses) and avoid greed.
The honeybee wanders from flower to flower to collect nectar from them, and it accomplishes this without ever hurting the flower. Similarly, the Sage extracts the very essence of different many different scriptures and teachings without entangling himself in intellectualisation and analysis. The Sage is the one who takes only what he needs from the world, and not an ounce more. He accomplishes this without using violence and without wasting anything.
Out of immense lust, the male elephant falls into a pit covered over with grass by its mate's scent, a paper, and a wooden made female elephant. The elephant gets caught and enchained after being attracted to its opposite gender mate. Similarly, a passionate person, tempted by anything that they deem to be pleasurable, falls into the trap of attachment and eventually comes to grief. The seekers of Spiritual Truth should learn to get rid to see how fleeting and temporary sense pleasures really are.
The bees collect honey and store it with hard work, which they neither eat nor give away charitably to any other creatures. The Honey-Gatherer (honey-thief) comes and takes the honey away with ease. The Sage should not store things for himself even for tomorrow. He should use his palms to accept food and his stomach to store food. We have to leave everything that we have accumulated throughout our life, at once, and depart empty-handed when the Lord of Death Yama comes and takes us with him.
The deer is very fond of music and is very much attracted by it. The hunter can trap the deer through its love for music by employing music to lure the deer. This teaches that passion and sensual desires, if left unchecked, will sooner or later pull a spiritual aspirant back into the world of senseless attachment if they do not develop the capacity for neutral observation.
Due to an uncontrolled tongue, the fish is caught on a hook and through tasteful bait meets its end. This teaches that among the senses, the tongue is the most difficult to control. When the taste buds are controlled, the other senses will become more easily controlled. Just as the fish never leaves its home (i.e., water), one should never lose sight of his True Self.
There was a dancing girl named Pingala. She was tired of looking for customers every night to come and provide her with sensual pleasure and money. She became hopeless and, ultimately, out of frustration, gave up her plans for earning money via these means. Feeling satisfaction from her abandonment of material desires, she was content with what she had and then had a sound sleep. She realised that real contentment lies within. This teaches that the abandonment of expectation from other people leads to contentment, stability and infinite joy.
Once, there was a hawk that picked up some food in its beak from somewhere. More robust birds, having no food to eat, attacked that bird to take its food away. To get rid of the attack and attain peace, the bird dropped the food from its beak. This teaches that worldly possessions can be a source of trouble. If one runs after sensual pleasures, then one will soon come into conflict with fellow-beings who are competing for the same things. Only misery and strife will result from such conflict. Happiness and enlightenment belong to one who lives a simple life, has conquered his craving for worldly things, and seeks only spiritual goals. One becomes happy and free only after abandoning the attachment passing sensual pleasures.
A child has no grievance, anger, jealousy, hatred, and, above all, is free of ego and arrogance. Both the child and the Sage are free from anxieties and fully engrossed in the flow of supreme joy. A child is happy and enjoying life due to ignorance, whilst a Sage is happily free from all worldly desires and fears. This teaches us to live like a child at heart, innocent, carefree, and full of supreme joy.
Once some people came home to see a Maiden Girl. Her parents were not at home, so she had to entertain them herself. She went to the kitchen and started beating rice for their food. At that time, her hand bangles began making noise. She did not like that noise [because it showed that they were so poor that she had to beat the rice]. So she broke all the bangles except two in each hand. However, because they still made a noise, she broke one more bangle from each hand. Then there was no noise. This teaches that as long as there is the perception of two, then there will be a problem. Real peace can only dawn when we cease to perceive separation - when we only perceive the sole One that exists in and as all beings.
Once there was an arrow maker, who so absorbed in making the tip of an arrow that he didn't notice the King's procession passing nearby. Later, when someone asked the arrow-maker how he liked the procession's music, he said, 'What procession? When did it pass?' Similarly, we ought to be so concentrated on the Truth that no external object or event should ever disturb us.
The snake lives alone and avoids the company of other creatures. After some time, the snake shed its old skin and grows a newer one. This resembles the process of death and rebirth. A true Sage, never frightened by death, knows that the cycle of reincarnation goes on as long as he remains within the fold of karmic action. Therefore, whether he remains apparently active in the world or not, he withdraws his mind into the cave of the Heart, and therein die to illusion and attains to the real immortality of Reality Itself.
From out of itself, the spider spins and builds a beautiful, elaborate web and then lives in and enjoys it. Finally, the spider consumes that web back into itself and simply remains within itself, web-less and with its potency withdrawn inside. So too does the Supreme Reality projects Its power in the form of the created universe before It withdraws that power to remain in Its unmanifested mode. The Sage is the one who is well aware of this process, and thus come to merge with Reality in both its manifest and unmanifest forms.
The wasp catches hold of a caterpillar, puts it in its hive (nest), stings it, and goes on buzzing about it. The caterpillar is so frightened by this ongoing buzzing process that it cannot think about anything other than the wasp. Whilst always thinking of the wasp, eventually, the caterpillar begins to form into a wasp. This teaches that whatever form a man continually thinks of (knowingly, unintentionally, be it with love, jealousy or fear, etc.), he attains that form over time. As a man thinks, so he becomes. Even at the time of death, whatever one's mind focused on, one attains the same living species form in his next life. Thus, one must try to give up all attachment to the body and attain complete Liberation in this very life. Suppose that one always, with full devotion and without any deviation, meditates upon the Supreme Reality. Then, with time, one will surely become That.
In summary, Lord Dattatreya teaches that beneath the material world’s apparent multiplicities, there is a single underlying Unity. This Unity is the Supreme Consciousness, which is often characterised as ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’ – Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
Lord Dattatreya teaches that within every living being, there is a particle of this Supreme, which remains stainless and intact whilst the karma-bound mind creates and lives in the illusion of being a separate self existing in an external material world.
However, it is possible to be reawakened from of this illusory dream to the true nature of existence and realise ones union with the Supreme Reality. Thus, the wise man is the one who, in the manner of Lord Dattatreya, uses everything that appears as a springboard to, first, see the faults within the samsaric worldview, and secondly, to perceive the underlying unity that is clearly seen within the created world when we are capable of perceiving without the stains of attachment and aversion.
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