Book Title: Chitrabhanu Man with Vision
Author(s): Clare Rosenfield
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre New York

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 134
________________ elevator. They lifted him to that height where there were no words. Each step brought him closer to that which was nothing but pure life. Though he could not maintain an uninterrupted state of joy and peace, he experienced it in glimpses. With each glimpse, he understood in his experience the meaning of merging. The drop is not different from the ocean. If I try and hold onto my drophood, I am vulnerable to being dried up by the sun at any time! When I jump into the ocean, I gain the whole ocean! Once his Master had a fever. That day he decided to take only tea or juice. Munishree went to get tea for him from the woman nearby who loved to offer food to the monks. When he returned with the tea, he watched his teacher drink it with the same composure and pleasant smile that was ever lighting up his face. Within five minutes the woman who offered the tea came rushing up to the dharmasala, calling out, “Wait! Oh, forgive me! I made a mistake. Instead of putting sugar in the tea, I put salt. When I drank the tea which was left in the pot, I noticed it. The salt and sugar containers are right next to one another and look so much alike. Oh, what a terrible mistake!" Munishree told her, “It is over now. Never mind about it. I will ask the Acharya a little later." He went to his teacher and asked, “Sir, have you noticed when you drank the tea that it had salt in it instead of sugar?” His teacher smiled, “Do you think I did not notice?" "Why did you not tell me? I could have gone out for fresh tea." "Well," he answered cheerfully, “sometimes, I have to see how this salt tastes! Every day I drink with sugar, so today I had the privilege of a change of taste! And it was a small mistake. There was no need to make the woman feel guilty for it. After all, every day she offers tea. Can I not discount the one time she forgot what she was doing? Why not remember instead the hundreds of times she gave me service?" Munishree was moved by his teacher's generous 117 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326