When the devil saw a seeker enter the house of a Master he was determined to do everything in his power to turn him back from his quest for Truth. So he subjected the poor man to every possible temptation: wealth, lust, fame, power, prestige.
But the seeker was far too experienced in spiritual matters and was able to fight off the temptations quite easily, so great was his longing for spirituality. When he got into the Master’s presence, he was somewhat taken aback to see the Master sitting on an upholstered chair and the disciples at his feet.
“This man certainly lacks the principal virtue of the saints, humility,” he thought to himself. He then observed other things about the Master that he did not like; for one thing, the Master took little notice of him. (“I suppose that is because I do not fawn on him as the others do,” he said to himself). Also the kind of clothes the Master wore and the somewhat conceited way he spoke. All of this led him to the conclusion that he had come to the wrong place and must continue his quest elsewhere.
As he walked out of the room, the Master, who had seen the devil seated in a corner of the room. said. “You need not have worried Tempter. He was yours from the very first, you know.”
Such is the fate of those who, in their search for God, are willing to shed everything except their notions of what God really is.
Indian Thoughts Archives
No comments:
Post a Comment