Post #61

A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time, and at last, the sage told them: "Thou thyself art the being thou art seeking." Both of them thought that their bodies were the Self. "We have got everything", they said: and both of them returned to their people and said, "We have learned everything that is to be learned; eat, drink, and be merry; we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us." The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded, so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly satisfied with the idea that he was God, that by the Self he meant the body. But the god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking, "I, this body, am Brahman,so keep it strong and in health, and well-dressed, and give it all sorts of bodily enjoyments." But, in a few days, he found out that this could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there must be something higher. So he came back and said: "Sir, did you teach me that this body is the Self? If so, I see all bodies die; the Self cannot die." The sage said: "Find it out; thou art That."; Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But, after a time, he found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said: "Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self ?" The sage said: "Find out for yourself; thou art That."; The god returned once more, and thought that it was the mind; perhaps that is the Self. But in a few days he reflected that thoughts are so various; now good, now bad; the mind is too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and said: "Sir, I do not think that the mind is the self; did you mean that? No; replied the sage, "thou art That; find out for yourself."; The god went back, and, at last, found that he was the Self, beyond all thought; One, without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce, or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry, or the water melt, the beginningless and birthless, the immovable, the intangible, the omniscient, the omnipotent Being, and that it was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied, but the poor demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body. This world has a good many of these demoniac natures, but there are some gods too. If one propose to teach any science to increase the power of sense enjoyment, he finds multitudes ready for it. If one undertake to show mankind the supreme goal, they care nothing for that. Very few have the power to grasp the highest, fewer still the patience to attain to it, but a few also know that if the body be kept for a thousand years the result will be the same in the end. When the forces that hold it together go away the body must fall. No man was ever born who could stop his body one moment from changing. Body is the name of a series of changes. "As in a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body." Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy; it is the best instrument we have. - Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga