| |
the truth but who has memorized grammar, who knows the words and scriptures and can repeat them, explain them. Shankara is calling the pundit an idiot. His very words: OH IDIOT! SING THE SONG OF THE DIVINE, SING THE SONG OF THE DIVINE, BECAUSE AT THE TIME OF DEATH THE MEMORIZATION OF GRAMMAR WILL NOT SAVE YOU, prove that he was using the word idiot for the pundit; otherwise all of a sudden there was no need to mention about grammar. It is not the fool or the ignorant whom we consider as such; it is the pundit who is memorizing grammar, he is the idiot.
The pundit is memorizing grammar, and this has become a big burden in India, so much so that almost every person has this false notion that he knows the divine just because he knows the word God. Remember that the word God is not godliness, just as the word water is not water. When one is thirsty the word water is of no use and actual water is needed to quench the thirst. At the time of death the principles and theories of immortality are of no use; the actual taste of immortality is needed.
Once I was traveling during the summer. It had not rained that year in that area. The train stopped at a station where a man was selling water -- ten paisa per glass. He was calling out, "A glass of water for ten paisa." He went on selling the water and collecting the money.
A man sitting near me asked him, "Won't you sell it for eight paisa?"
Hearing this the water-seller did not even stop and he said, "Then you are just not thirsty!"
Yes, he was right. When one is really thirsty, one does not worry about eight paisa or ten paisa. Only those who are not thirsty can think of bargaining. The water-seller's remark appealed to me. When one is thirsty one cannot think of saving two paisa. In fact one is ready to give everything at that time. The bargaining goes on only while one is not thirsty.
You say that you are a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Christian; this only means that you are not thirsty yet. When one is thirsty one does not bother about being a Hindu, a Mohammedan or a Christian. When one is really thirsty one asks for the divine; temples, mosques or gurudwaras don't mean anything to
|
|
|