Chapter -1 Such Is the Way As I have noticed, people the world over raise the same question when in great distress. Their language may vary, but they mean the same - Why does God burden me alone with so much strife? Whenever someone asks me this question, I relate a brief tale narrated by the Buddhists. There was a small village. A young boy went to a nearby river to play at the edge of the water. As he was playing, he heard a cry for help. . . Oh, please save me, please save me! Looking around, he found a crocodile caught in a net; unable to escape, the crocodile cried out pitifully to the boy. The boy, however, was reluctant to save the crocodile, feeling that if he saved it, the crocodile was sure to eat him up. But the crocodile pleaded with him, tears streaming down its face, and said, Honestly, I promise you that I wont devour you. Please save me! The boy, convinced of its sincerity, began to cut the net that imprisoned the crocodile. No sooner was its head free from the net than the crocodile grabbed the boys leg in its jaws. Now, it was the boys turn to cry out in tears, Hey, you dirty croc! Is this fair? The crocodile responded philosophically, What to do? Such is the way of the world! Such is life! and continued to devour the boy. The boy was not worried about dying. What he could not accept was the total ingratitude of the crocodile and its philosophy. While his leg was slowly sliding into the jaws of the crocodile, the boy looked at the birds on a nearby tree and asked: Is the crocodile uttering the truth? Is this the way of the world—full of injustice? Is this how life goes where words are not honoured? And the birds replied, We take such care to build safe nests on the tops of the trees for protecting our eggs. Yet, snakes come and swallow them. We concur with the crocodile that what it is saying is totally true. There is injustice in the world. Then the boy saw a donkey that was grazing on the banks of the lake and repeated his question. While I was young, my master loaded soiled linen on my and extracted maximum amount of work from me. Now that I am old and feeble, he has abandoned me saying; that he cannot feed me. So there is nothing wrong with the crocodile is saying. Such is the way of the world. There is injustice and unfairness in the world and such is life! said the donkey. The boy, still unable to accept these explanations finally noticed a rabbit and repeated his question. The rabbit said, No, no! I cannot accept what the crocodile is saying. It is utter nonsense! Hearing this, the crocodile became angry and wanted to argue with the rabbit, even while holding the boys leg in its strong jaws. The rabbit protested, saying that as the crocodiles mouth was choked with the boys leg, it was not able to decipher what the crocodile was trying to say. The crocodile laughed heartily at this and said, T am not a fool! If I let go, the boy would run away! Now, you are really stupid! said the rabbit. Have you forgotten how strong your tail is? Even if he runs, you can smash him with just one mighty lash of your tail! The crocodile fell for this and releasing the boy, continued its argument. The rabbit screamed to the boy, Run! Run! Dont just stand there! and the boy took to his heels. Only when it tried to raise its tail, did the crocodile realise that it was still entangled in the net. As the boy ran away, it glared at the rabbit in a terrible rage. The rabbit smiled sweetly and quipped, Now do you understand? Such is the way of the world! Such is life! In a short while, the young boy returned with the villagers and they killed the crocodile. A dog that came along spotted the rabbit and started chasing it. The boy screamed at the dog Hey, listen! This rabbit saved my life. Do not attack him, but alas, before the boy could intervene, the dog had chased and killed the rabbit in a jiffy! The young boy unable to bear the tragedy cried and said to himself, What the crocodile said was true. Such is the way of the world. Such is life! Buddhism speaks of the same great truth that the ancient sages of Hinduism revealed - we cannot fully understand the many aspects that cover our lives. Unfairness is a part and parcel of life. Such is the way of life. Can we teach ourselves not to be victims of unfairness and confront it with the understanding that the mysteries of life cannot be fully understood? Such acceptance of unfairness would give us the maturity to live life wisely. Reflections Yoga of Wisdom Watch - Mystery of Life is beyond our Comprehension. We are mysteriously complete. Yoga of Action There is far more peace in acceptance than in resistance Contemplation Unfairness is a part and parcel of life. A crocodile remains a crocodile even if dressed in silk. He that kills shall be killed. He that cheats shall be cheated.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:39:59 +0000
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