Once, an elderly Buddhist monk was travelling, accompanied by a young disciple. As they crossed many villages and towns, they came upon a river that was swollen with the torrential rain that had been falling in those parts. They saw a young, beautiful woman standing on the shore looking worried. When she saw the monks, she hurried to them and said, 'Sirs, can you please help me cross the river to the other shore? I need to go back to my village and it is getting dark".
The elderly monk immediately took her hand, swung her on his shoulders, crossed the raging river and let her down on the other shore. She thanked him profusely and went on her way. The young disciple couldn't come to grips with the fact that his revered master who had undertaken the vow of celibacy had not only touched a woman, a beautiful one at that, but had carried her on his shoulders for over half an hour. After a few days, not being able contain his disappointment any longer, he said to the elderly monk, "You shouldn't have done that" The monk asked, surprised, "What shouldn't I have done?" "You shouldn't have touched that beautiful girl, or carried her. It wasn't right". The elderly monk smiled and said, "Look, I was helping someone in need, I wasn't looking at how young or beautiful she was. Besides, I left her on that shore, why are you still carrying her?" We do this all the time, don't we? We carry the monkey of guilt, anger, disappointment, resentment and injustice on our backs, long after the incident. Let's drop it on the other shore and lighten our load. As Ramana Maharishi said once about surrender, 'Do you still carry your baggage even after boarding the train on your journey?"
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AuthorWorking with the available light as Ramana Maharishi said. Archives
November 2020
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