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THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
every step." Opportunities offer themselves for knowing and seeing, but a man deliberately shuts his eyes to them. He deprives himself of vision and is consequently surrounded by impediments. Our effort is aimed at knowing and seeing - attainment of ultimate knowledge or vision is our goal. For this, one has to experience for oneself the supraphysical state.
The one great aim of spiritual endeavour is the experiencing of the supraphysical state. One has to go beyond mere body-perception. Two things are connected with body perception-lise and death. Both are inseparably linked with each other. When we look at life, we experience attachment; when we look at death, we experience fear. Both these aspects of unconsciousness-attachment and fear-are connected with the body. The care of the body gives rise to attachment. We do not want to be unattached. The giving up of the body, on the other hand, causes fear. What is fear after all? A fable from Uttaradhyana Sutra will illustrate the point. King Samprati went out hunting. A deer came across his way. He shot the arrow and the deer was killed. The king drew near and
esently he saw a monk sitting under the tree in kayotsarg. The king was filled with fear. He said to himself, “I have done a great wrong. The deer probably belongs to this monk. I have killed it. What will the monk say? He appears to be a great ascetic. Ifhe lays a curse on me, I am undone!"
Even a killer is afraid of death. He does not want to die. He dishes out death to lots of people, but is reluctant to face death himself, and is terribly concerned with ensuring his own safety. His fear is so Intense that he employs a great many people for his own protection. The killer is even more afraid of death than the killed.
So the king was gripped by fear. He alighted from his horse and prostrated at the feet of the monk. The monk completed his kayotsarg and motioned him to speak. The king, with folded hands, said, "Sir! pardon me! I did not know that that deer belonged to you. Not knowing this, I have killed the deer. Kindly pardon me!"
The monk sat still. Then he said in a quiet tone, "O King, I will pardon you, but then you must deserve it. You will deserve it only when you yourself accord protection to all and sundry. All fear you. Not only the deer that you have killed, but the whole kingdom fears you. You want to be free from fear. You must also learn to offer this freedom from fear to others. If you give protection to all and ensure for others full freedom from fear, you will enjoy this freedom for yourself. Tell me one thing, o King! Why in this short life of yours are you doing so much violence to others? Are you going to live here for ever? Are you immortal, will never die? Pause and consider! Nothing is immortal. Nothing is going to last for ever. Why do you then commit so much violence? What for?"
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