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THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
very gratification becomes a hurdle in one's path to salvation, and to civilized living. The man who has experienced the bliss of nongratification and non-attachment, has already triumphed over many difficulties. Out of 12 vows prescribed by Mahatma Gandhi, one was specially concerned with indifference towards taste. The word 'indifference' here does not apply to food alone, it includes all gratifications. Where there is a desire for satisfaction, search for pleasure, it is an indication that inner attachment has not diminished, has not undergone any transformation.
There was a monk out for begging alms. He happened to reach an acrobat's house. The daughter of the house gave him a sweetmeat-ball. It had been finely prepared, and it spread its fragrance all around. It was quite a big ball too. The monk was fascinated by the fragrance. "It smells so sweet!" he thought, "How delicious would it be in eating!" The desire for gratification had taken hold of him.
This desire for gratification is found in everyone. Just by becoming a monk, you do not get rid of it. However, the keener one's quest of truth, the greater one's spiritual endeavour, the less prone is one to desire for gratification. Mere renouncing the world and becoming a monk is not enough. One has to accomplish a lot of groundwork. One las accepted asceticism. But there are the passions, the laziness and langour to be conquered. There is noble dispassion to be achieved. A lot requires to be done. Gratification dies hard.
So the desire for gratification awoke in the monk. “What wonderfully pleasant smell this sweetmeat ball gives out! The very sight of it is most gratifying to the eye; how very delicious will it be in eating! But I've got only one. How can one ball suffice? There is the master, there is my teacher and there are my co-monks. There's also the very old monk, my care. All these have to be fed first. Courtesy demands it. Until I can procure at least six sweetmeat balls, there is little prospect of getting one for myself."
The cycle of gratification had started, and the poor inonk was caught in it. Now, through devotion and ceaseless endeavour, he had acquired a great many powers. Immediately he assumed the appearance of a young hermit. Not that he put on the garb of a hermit. Oh, no, thanks to the great mystical powers he had, he simply transformed himself into one by changing the shape and structure of his body. So it was quite a different monk who approached the acrobat's house for alms. Thus he received another sweetmeat ball. But again, two balls would not suffice, he thought. He wanted six. So, one after the other, he assumed the shape of still another monk, and collected six balls. Now at least one would fall to his share. The master-acrobat, from his high perch above, observed all this and thought, "Here's a remarkable putter-on, a
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