Saturday, May 10, 2014

The Story of the Scorpion and the Holy Man

He who sees that all actions
are performed by nature alone
and thus that the self is not the doer -
that man sees truly.
(Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita)

There was once a holy man who sat at a river bank. A passer-by observed how he lifted a drowning scorpion out of water, but before he could place it safely onto the river bank, the scorpion stung him. In pain, the holy man instinctively dropped the scorpion back into the water only to rescue it again. The passer-by watched that strange occurrence in amazement for a while and then asked the holy man why he always rescues that scorpion if he knows that he will only get stung. The holy man shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It is the nature of the scorpion to sting and it is my nature to save creatures in distress."

We do what we do, because we do what we do. We have no degrees of freedom in what we do, even though we think we do. Yet, you can realize that you are part of an unfolding movie plot. While you unfortunately can't waken yourself, it is in your power to wake up within the dream. Know that nature propels everything, victory and defeat, pleasure and pain. When you realize that the self is not the doer, the Self in fact is activated. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Let the movie unfold and don't worry, the ending will be a meaningful one. Once the Self engages, serenity, love and conviction will be traveling with you.

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