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THE MYSTERIES OF MIND
thing. A man suffering from visual disorder went to a physician. The physician gave him an ointment which he was advised to apply to his eyes The patient returned home and applied the ointment to his back. When asked why he did so, he replied “I am doing so because when I applied it to the eyes I began to feel a burning sensation." He felt no such sensation when he applied the ointment on his back.
I would like to tell you another story. Once a camel and an ox happened to be together. The camel was suffering from some disease and he was to be stamped with a red hot rod of iron. A veterinary surgeon came and instead of stamping the camel he stamped the ox. When asked as to why he had stamped the ox, he replied that he had done so because his hand could not reach that part of the camel's body which was to be stamped. We too behave in the same way. You can very well imagine what are going to be the consequences of our foolishness,
It is difficult to imagine howmany mutually contradictory actions we do in our life. We laugh at others when they do such things but we unconsiously do the same things ourselves. For example the spring of joy lies within us but we search for it outside ourselves. We behave like the old woman referred to above. Sādhanā puts and end to such foolish conduct. It calls upon us to seek happiness within ourselves. It does not dissuade us from using material things so far as they are necessary.
Man needs two kinds of things. He needs things which fulfil his material needs. He also needs things which are capable of giving him joy and happiness. Spiritual exertion does not satisfy our material needs. Happiness and joy, on the other hand, can be achieved by spiritual exertion only. And yet we entertain delusions. We confuse spiritual satisfaction with material satisfaction. If material objects were capable of giving us happiness, the modern man could have been the happiest creature in the world. Our productive potential has risen skyhigh and yet we are unhappy. Science and technology have made us more unhappy. The more the material wealth we command, the more unhappy do we
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