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Discretionary Gentleness
for all of us. If there happens to be a snake somewhere in the house, the people cannot sleep at ease. The ego lying within us is a snake. We therefore need to stay alert so long as the ego stays. For removing it we need to develop the attribute of discretionary gentleness. The more we pound the lump of wheat flour; the better would be the tortillas. Similarly higher the level of discretion, the better would be the performance. This aspect seems to be lacking in the present education. The students happen to joke while the teacher teaches. That is not a desirable situation.
We know from the life of king Bimbisär that while he tried to learn from the skinner the art of remaining invisible while sitting on the throne, he failed to grasp it. When he asked Abhaykumar about the reason, he was told that if one wants to get water from a well, he needs to bend down while immersing the vessel in water. Similarly the king needed to give respect to the skinner for learning his art. Accordingly when Bimbisär gave a higher seat to the skinner, he could quickly learn the art.
The enlightened persons have therefore said that those who comprehend the underlying meaning of scriptural words, get enlightened. This cannot be done in the absence of discretionary gentleness. Those, whose ego can melt on seeing an enlightened person, like wax in the presence of heat, get a high place in the society. They cease to belong to a particular family, sect or a section of the society. Their individuality gets merged within the society and their names remain engraved forever.
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