The Elephant

As the elephant on the battlefield endures the arrow shot from the bow, so also shall I patiently bear insult, for truly there are many of evil mind in the world.

 

It is a tamed elephant that is led to the battlefield; one whom the Raja rides. The best among men is he who patiently bears insult.

 

Trained mules are excellent, as also the thoroughbreds of Sindh and the mighty tuskers. Better yet is the man who has brought himself under control.

 

Not by mounting one of these animals does one attain the unexplored path, but by mastering oneself. By that mastery one attains it.

 

In the mating season it is difficult to control the mighty elephant Dhanapalako. When he is chained he refuses to eat, he yearns only to be once more a wild elephant of the forest.

 

When a man is slothful and gluttonous, always sleepy and rolling from side to side like a fat hog in the mud—this fool is compelled to be born over and over again.

 

Once this mind wandered where it would from one thing to another, according to its pleasure, but now I shall master it completely as themahout with his goadmasters the elephant in rut.

 

Delight in vigilance, guard carefully your mind. Lift yourself out of evil as the elephant sunk in a swamp.

 

If for company you find a prudent friend, who leads a good life, who is intelligent and self-controlled, overcoming all obstacles, do not hesitate to set out with him joyfully and courageously.

 

And if you do not meet with such a friend, who leads a good life, who is intelligent and self-controlled, then like a king renouncing a kingdom he has conquered, or like a solitary elephant in the forest follow your path alone.

 

It is better to live alone, for one cannot take a fool as a companion. It is better to live alone and do no evil, carefree, like the elephant in the jungle.

 

It is good to have friends when need arises. It is good to be satisfied with what one has. It is good, at the hour of death, to have acquired merit. It is good to leave all grief behind you.

 

In this world it is a joy to respect one’s mother; it is a joy to respect one’s father; it is a joy to honour the monks; it is a joy to revere the Brahmins.

 

It is a joy to live purely throughout one’s life. It is a joy to have a steadfast faith. It is a joy to acquire wisdom. It is a joy to abstain from all evil.

 

The first verse gives some very wise advice: the war elephant who has been well trained does not start running away as soon as he receives an arrow. He continues to advance and bears the pain, withnochangein hisattitude of heroic resistance. Those who wish to follow the true path will naturally be exposed to the attacks of all forms of bad will, which not only do not understand, but generally hate what they do not understand.

 

If you are worried, grieved or even discouraged by the malicious stupidities that men say about you, you will not advance far on the way. And such things come to you, not because you are unlucky or because your lot is not a happy one, but because, on the contrary, the divine Consciousness and the divine Grace take your resolution seriously and allow the circumstances to become a touchstone on your way, to see whether your resolution is sincere and whether you are strong enough to face the difficulties.

 

Therefore, if anyone sneers at you or says something that is not very charitable, the first thing you should do is to look within yourself for whatever weakness or imperfection has allowed such a thing to happen and not to be disconsolate, indignant or aggrieved, because people do not appreciate you at what you think to be your true value; on the contrary, you must be thankful to the divine Grace for having pointed out to you the weakness or imperfection or deformation that youmust correct.

 

Therefore, instead of being unhappy, you can be fully satisfied and derive advantage, a great advantage from the harm that was intended against you.

 

Besides, if you truly want to follow the path and practise yoga, you must not do it for appreciation or honour, you must do it because it is an imperative need of your being, because you cannot be happy in any other way. Whether people appreciate you or do not appreciate you, it is of absolutely no importance. You may tell yourself beforehand that the further you are from ordinary men, foreign to the ordinary mode of being, the less people will appreciate you, quite naturally, because they will not understand you. And I repeat, it has absolutely no importance.

 

True sincerity consists in advancing on the way because you cannot do otherwise, to consecrate yourself to the divine life because you cannot do otherwise, to seek to transform your being and come out into the light because you cannot do otherwise, because it is the purpose of your life.

 

When it is like that you may be sure that you are on the right path.

 

1 August 1958

Craving

The craving of a heedless man grows like the Maluva creeper. Like a monkey seeking fruits in the forest, he leaps from life to life.

 

For one who in the world is overcome by the craving that clings, his miseries increase like Birana grass after the rains.

 

For one who in this world can overcome this craving that clings and is so difficult to master, his sorrows fall away like water from a lotus leaf.

 

To all who are gathered here, I say for your welfare: pull out the roots of your craving, as you uproot Birana grass. Do not let Mara crush you again and again as a flood crushes a reed.

 

As a tree, though felled, springs up oncemore if the roots remain intact, even so sorrowwill return again and again until all craving is rooted out.

 

The misguided man, who cannot resist the thirty-six strong currents of craving, is swept away by the flood of his eagerness for pleasure.

 

Everywhere these currents flow and the creeper (of craving) springs up and increases. Wherever you see it springing up, cut out its roots with the force of wisdom.

 

Allowing their minds to be attracted by the enjoyment of transient objects, men who crave pleasure become a prey to birth and to decay.

 

Beset by craving, men run around like a hare in a trap. Bound by the chains of attachment, they come again and again to sorrow.

 

Beset by craving, men run around like a hare in a trap. Therefore, O Bhikkhu, desiring deliverance from passion, destroy your craving.

 

One who, delivered from craving, yet runs back to it, lo, he is like a freed man who returns to bondage.

 

What the wise call a strong bond is not made of iron, wood or rope; but the craving for jewels and ornaments, for wife and children, is a far stronger bond.

 

The wise say that it pulls you downward, and though it seems to be loose, it is hard to be rid of. This too the wise cut off; renouncing the pleasures of the senses, free from craving, they take to the homeless life.

 

Those who are bound by their passions are drawn back into the stream, like a spider caught in his own web. This too the wise cut off; renouncing the pleasures of the senses, free from craving, they take to the homeless life.

 

Be free from the past, be free from the future, be free from the present. Cross over to the other shore of existence; when the mind is wholly delivered, you shall come no more to birth and death.

 

One who is troubled by evil thoughts, who is controlled by his passions, who seeks only pleasure, his craving grows steadily; he makes his bonds strong indeed.

 

One who delights in subduing evil thoughts, who is vigilant and can distinguish impurities, he will put an end to his cravings, he shall break the bonds of Mara.

 

He who has reached the goal, who is without fear and free from craving and impurity, he has plucked out the thorns of existence; this is his last incarnation.

 

One who is free from craving, unattached, who knows the words and their meanings, who knows the arrangement of the texts in their sequence, he indeed has put on his last body. He alone is called “The Man of Great Wisdom.”

 

I have vanquished all, I know all; unconditioned, allrenouncing, delivered by the extinction of craving, having understood all by myself, whom shall I call my teacher?

 

The gift of Truth excels all gifts; the savour of Truth excels all savours; delight in Truth excels all delights; deliverance from craving overcomes all suffering.

 

Riches ruin the fool, but not one who seeks the other shore. By craving for riches, the fool ruins himself and others with him.

 

Weeds are the bane of the fields; passion the bane of mankind. Therefore whatever is given to those freed from passions yields abundant fruit.

 

Weeds are the bane of the fields; hatred the bane of mankind. Therefore whatever is given to those freed from hatred yields abundant fruit.

 

Weeds are the bane of the fields; delusion the bane of mankind. Therefore whatever is given to those freed from delusion yields abundant fruit.

 

Weeds are the bane of the fields; desires the bane of mankind. Therefore whatever is given to those freed from desires yields abundant fruit.

 

 

We shall keep the last one to meditate on.

 

8 August 1958

The Bhikku

To control the eye is good; to control the ear is good; to control the nose and the tongue is good.

 

It is good to control one’s actions, words, mind. Control in all things is good. The Bhikkhu who controls himself entirely is delivered from all suffering.

 

The man who is master over his hands, his feet and his tongue, who controls himself wholly, who delights in meditation, who is calm and leads a solitary life, can be called a Bhikkhu.

 

The Bhikkhu who is master over his tongue and is moderate in speech, who is modest, who luminously interprets the Doctrine, in truth his words are as sweet as honey.

 

The Bhikkhu who lives by the Doctrine, who delights in the Doctrine, who meditates on the Doctrine, who knows the Doctrine thoroughly, surely cannot fall away from the Doctrine.

 

The Bhikkhu should not treat his own progress (in wisdom and goodness) lightly, nor envy the progress of others; for the Bhikkhu who is envious cannot achieve concentration.

 

Even if the progress he has made is slight, the Bhikkhu should not despise it; if his life is pure and his effort persevering, the gods themselves shall praise him for it.

 

One who is not attached to name and form, who does not think, “This belongs to me”, and who does not grieve over what does not exist, he, in truth, is called a Bhikkhu.

 

The Bhikkhu who lives a life of loving kindness and who is filled with faith in the teaching of the Enlightened One, that Bhikkhu will attain the peace of Nirvana, the supreme bliss from which every conditioned element has vanished.

 

Empty this boat, O Bhikkhu; once lightened, the boat of your body will sail more lightly and having rejected desire and hatred you shall enter Nirvana.

 

Break the five bonds (belief in the ego, doubt, belief in vain rites and ceremonies, craving and bad will). Renounce these five other bonds (the desire to live in the world of forms, the desire to live in the subtle world, pride, restlessness and ignorance). Cultivate these five (faith, energy, mindfulness, meditation, and wisdom). The Bhikkhu who is thus five times free is said to be “he who has crossed over the flood”.

 

Meditate, O Bhikkhus, do not be negligent. Your minds should not turn towards the pleasures of the senses; for if by negligence you swallowed a red-hot iron ball, when you felt the burning you would lament, crying, “Oh, how painful it is!”

 

For one without knowledge there is no meditation; without meditation there is no knowledge. One in whom there is both meditation and knowledge is near to Nirvana.

 

The Bhikkhu who has entered the abode of emptiness, the Bhikkhu of serene mind, enjoys delight beyond the human, in the clear vision of the Doctrine.

 

Each time that he concentrates on the appearance and disappearance of all conditioned things, he enjoys the happiness and the delight of those who have attained immortality.

 

These things are for the wise Bhikkhu the very basis of the religious life: mastery of the senses, contentment, conduct according to the code of discipline, association with noble friends who lead a life of constant purity.

 

The Bhikkhu should be cordial, kind and polite; thus in the fullness of his joy, he will put an end to suffering.

 

Just as the jasmine sheds its faded petals, so also the Bhikkhu sheds desire and hatred.

 

Calm in action, calm in speech, calm in mind, serene, emptied of all earthly appetites, this Bhikkhu is called “The Serene One”.

 

Let him arouse himself, let him examine himself; thus self-guarded and vigilant, the Bhikkhu will live in happiness.

 

In truth, one is one’s own protector, one’s own refuge. Know therefore how to control yourself as the horsedealer controls a noble steed.

 

Filled with gladness and faith by the teaching of the Buddha, the Bhikkhu attains the state of perfect peace, cessation of all compounded existence.

 

The young Bhikkhu who consecrates himself to the Teaching of the Enlightened One, illumines this world like the moon coming forth from behind the clouds.

 

One piece of advice given here is that one should always be kind. It should not be mistaken for the sort of advice people normally give. It says something interesting, even very interesting.My comment is: Always be kind and you will be free from suffering, always be contented and happy, and you will radiate your quiet happiness.

 

It is particularly noticeable that all the digestive functions are extremely sensitive to an attitude that is critical, bitter, full of ill-will, to a sour judgment. Nothing disturbs the functioning of the digestion more than that. And it is a vicious circle: the more the digestive function is disturbed, the more unkind you become, critical, dissatisfied with life and things and people. So you can’t find any way out. And there is only one cure: to deliberately drop this attitude, to absolutely forbid yourself to have it and to impose upon yourself, by constant self-control, a deliberate attitude of all-comprehending kindness. Just try and you will see that you feel much better.

 

22 August 1958