Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 35

21
flowers from the plant. The buds become flowers and cven they are plucked and taken away. All must die. You too will not live for ever; nor will I.”
The old woman realized the truth of his words and her sorrow abated. She saluted the Buddha and went home.
Sri Rama and the Pandavas had to leave their palaces to live in a forest. In case an occasion arises when you have to leave your magnificent mansion, will the mansion weep over your departure? If any one robs you of your money-bag at the point of the pistol, will it weep? Will the hundred rupee notes in the bag weep over their separation from you? Like the mansion and the money the condition of the entire universe is devoid of any attachment to you. Nothing is attached for you. really. When that is so, why are you attached to the external things of life when they do not experience any sorrow for your sake? Why do you melt away in sorrow for them?
When a man is bitten by a snake, he finds even neem leaves sweet though they are actually bitter. In the same manner, when we are under the influence of attachment samsāra (life) tastes sweet but that is only an illusion. The most efficacious means of getting rid of our attachments for the world is to deem life a drama.
Ramleela (a drama dealing with the story of Rāma) may be going on. One actor plays the role of Rāvaņa, another becoming Hanuman burns his Lanka. A third actor playing the role of Rāma kills Rāvana. The spectator pleased with their performance claps his hands but behind the curtain Räma, Rävaņa and Hanuman sit on the same bench and drink tea. There, Rāvana does not have any enmity with Rāma or Hanumān; nor does he hate the spectator. The man playing the role of Rāvana thinks that he is only enacting the role of Rävaņa. He thinks that he is not related to the enmities exhibited on the stage and is not also affected by the respect and disrespect that he experiences on the stage (in that role).