Renunciation
Bhakthi
and the attitude of surrender that is its final fruits will give
you great courage to meet any emergency; such courage is what is
called Renunciation. The story of Mohajith is a good example of
this highest type of detachment.
Mohajith,
the Prince, went to a Sage in the forest and sought guidance in
the spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had conquered
attachment as his name indicated. The Prince said that not only
he, but every one in his kingdom had! So the Sage started to test
the truth of this claim.
The sage took the
Prince’s robes, soaked them in blood and hastened to the Palace
Gate with the gruesome story of the murder of the Prince by some
ruffians in the jungle. The maid whom he met refused to hurry with
the news to the Royal apartments because she said, “He was born,
he died; what is the special urgency of this news that I should
interrupt my regular routine and run to the King and Queen?”
When at last he got
an audience and was able to communicate the sad news to the
father, he sat unruffled, whispering to himself, “The bird flew
off the tree on which it had alighted to take rest.” The Raani too
was unmoved. She told the sage that this Earth is a caravanserai,
where men come and stay for the night and when dawn breaks, one by
one, they tramp their different ways. Kith and kin are the words
we use for the attachment to the travellers cultivated in the
caravanserai during the short term of acquaintance.
The wife of the
“dead” Prince was also unaffected; she said, “Husband and wife are
like two pieces of wood drifting down a flooded river; they float
near each other for some time and when some current comes between,
they are parted: each must move on to the sea at its own rate and
in its own time. There is no need to grieve over the parting of
the two; it is in the very nature of Nature that it should be so.”
The sage was
overjoyed to see this steady and sincere
Vairaagya (dispassion) in the rulers and the ruled. He came
back to the forest and told the Prince that while he was away, a
hostile army had invaded his Kingdom and slain the entire royal
family and captured his Kingdom and enslaved his subjects. He took
the news calmly and said, “All this is bubble, impermanent,
flimsy. Let it go the way of the bubble. Guide me to reach the
Infinite, the Imperishable.”
Such courage comes
out of the Grace of the Lord; it needs generations of learning and
struggle. Meanwhile, you must start with the first step, the
cleansing of the mind and the cultivation of virtue. Even if you
do not start with that step, at least do not laugh at those who
do, and discourage them. Do at least this much!
Source:
Radio Sai E-Magazine,
April 1, 2004
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_02/07April01/03_Spiritual_Blossoms/01_Sathya_sai_Speaks/sai_speaks.htm
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