You achieve greatness when you are oblivious of the dignity of those above you, and make those below you oblivious of yours. When you are neither haughty with the humble nor humble with the haughty.
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The Pearls
The guru was meditating on the river bank when a disciple bowed down to him and placed two enormous pearls at his feet, a token of reverence and devotion.
The guru opened his eyes, lifted one of the pearls and held it so carelessly that it slipped out of his hand and rolled down the bank into the river.
The horrified disciple plunged in after it but, though he dived in again and again till late evening, he had no luck.
Finally, all wet and exhausted, he roused the guru from his meditation: ‘You saw where it fell. Show me the spot so I can get it back for you.’
The guru lifted the other pearl, threw it into the river and said, ‘Right there!’
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One Tick at a Time
The clock master was about to fix the pendulum of a clock, when, to his surprise, he heard the pendulum speak. ‘Please, sir, leave me alone,’ the pendulum pleaded. ‘It will be an act of kindness on your part. Think of the number of times I will have to tick day and night. So many times each minute, sixty minutes an hour, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. For year upon year…millions of ticks. I can never do it.’
But the clock master answered wisely, ‘Don’t think of the future. Just do one tick at a time and you will enjoy every tick for the rest of your life. ’
And that is exactly what the pendulum decided to do. It is still ticking merrily away.
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Revelation!
A guru promised a scholar a revelation of greater consequence than anything contained in the scriptures.
When the scholar eagerly asked for it, the guru said, ‘Go out into the rain and raise your head and arms heavenward. That will bring you the first revelation.’ The next day the scholar came to report: ‘I followed your advice and water flowed down my neck — and I felt like a perfect fool.’ ‘Well,’ said the guru, ‘for the first day that’s quite a revelation, isn’t it?’
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Desires have no impact on a jnani’s mind, for they get dissolved there as rivers in an ocean.
Before the dawn of knowledge, there was dependence on external objects. On attaining knowledge, the avadhuta has no need of anything external, for he has realized that he is one with Brahman, the One without a second.
Let the onlookers imagine [whatever they want about my state]. What does others’ imagination matter to me [who am pure and contented by my very nature]? Just as a bunch of red blackberries does not burn by the [imaginary] fire superimposed on it by others, I do not [in the least] partake of the worldly vocation superimposed [on me] by others.
Just as the sun well absorbs all the [atmospheric] moisture, and the fire consumes all things [without in any way being affected by them], even so, the pure (unpolluted) yogin experiences all things, unstained by good or evil (virtues or sins).