Ascetic And Idiot

One day God took the form of a human male, in order to walk through the world and see how His/Her children were faring. He soon came upon an old ascetic who had spent his entire adult life in severe bodily mortification and forceful mental disciplines.

The ascetic had gained a certain degree of clarity of his senses from his prolonged practice and realized that the man casually walking by his cave was fully established in awareness of the inner Divine Self.

Painfully unwinding his body from his rigid posture, the ascetic bowed before God and said, “Great-Souled One! I perceive you are an illumined master. Pray tell me, honorable sir, how long it will take me before I realize my inner Divine Nature?”

God smiled warmly and laughingly replied, “You are doing well! At your present rate of progress, you will realize your inner Divine Self with just one more lifetime of similar effort.”

The ascetic, terrified, in shock, cried, “Another lifetime of this horror?! How can I endure this boredom, this agony, this pain for another day, let alone another lifetime! How horrible! You have cursed me this day! Begone from this place, you imposter! Never would I believe such as you.”

God smiled lovingly at him and walked on, soon coming upon an idiot splashing in the river, laughing and singing. This woman’s primary activity every day was to cry out, “God! How I love God! God! I love God! God!” This foolish one never took the slightest care for her physical needs, never cared if she were fed, clothed, housed. She never noticed if she were clean or dirty, hot or cold, wet or dry. She might have been locked up in a padded cell in our modern age, but in those days, people saw that she was harmless and therefore tolerated her and occasionally gave her a crust of bread or some old, half-rotten fruits or vegetables to eat.

This idiot was attracted by the radiance of this handsome stranger, came up out of the water, bowed before him and said, “How wonderful! God has sent by a Great-Souled One. I have been enjoying myself so much of late I had nearly forgotten I have a goal. I began my quest to realize enlightenment long ago but of late have become distracted by this constant joy welling up inside. Seeing you just now reminded me of my journey and I was wondering if you could tell me how long it will be before I realize my inner Divine Nature?”

God smiled warmly and laughingly replied, “You are doing well! At your present rate of progress, you will realize your inner Divine Self with just seventy more lifetimes of similar effort.”

“Seventy lifetimes of similar effort!” cried the idiot with perfect joy. “How wonderful! What a flawless boon you have today bestowed upon me!”

The idiot was so filled with joy at the prospect of another seventy lifetimes of such bliss that the last doubt fled from her mind; her last question melted into the joy that was her life; her ignorance was irrevocably crushed; she attained the highest state of enlightenment instantly.

Tune With Self

After reading the story who felt that even though we do many spiritual practice but when it comes to action we miss the train.

It is not only for the spiritual practice but also in our routine life. Look into your routine life how many times we forget that what we actually practice and what we act are have so much of a difference. Why so much of anxiety in life. It is just because what we practice and discipline ourselves is different from what we act.

In the story the Ascetic who day in and day out was practicing certain discipline but was forgetful regarding what is his discipline so he got terrified. On the other hand the Idiot Woman was just relaxed and enjoying in totality was so Joyful when she heard that seventy lifetimes she even was joyful of that seventy lifetimes. Joy became her way of life, her nature so even that seventy lifetimes was Universal gift to her to celebrate.

If anything what you are practicing becomes way of your life, your nature then you can accept anything and there will not be any misery in your life. Misery is there because we never accept what it is. Our life is life of expectations. If anything can become your way of life or nature then you will be doer but in that doing no expectations are there. You can celebrate even your Death.

Learning from the story Ascetic And Idiot: Tune With Self

Experience Learning

“In tune” is like when we sing the song of the heart. In tune with it, there is this feeling that it is right, a rightness of actions or words, among others. It vibrates and resonates in harmony inside and out, the body is relaxed, the heart is the compass, and everything seems to dance around this axis, great or small things in everyday life. “Rightness” or “In Harmony” means it has nothing moral or aesthetic about it, but we remain in the musical analogy.

When we are out of tune, the body is tense, we feel like a kind of violence that makes us and the other dirty. It is an insult, almost a blasphemy against life, and indeed, it stinks, it also uses a lot of energy. So if we missed the opportunity to spot this dissonance right away, then fatigue (full of heaviness, where I feel knocked out) is a good clue.

Firstly it is the absence of doubt and parasitic thoughts. It is not necessarily pleasant or joyful, because it can correspond to a moment of necessary suffering. In this case, there is something whole, a force and a verticality that is felt more. At other times, it comes naturally and things are simply done.

It is first of all through the presence of doubt and the impression that parts of myself are in conflict, each side defending its own personal interest. For example, one part wants to sleep (physical comfort) while the other prefers to stay at a party (desire for social recognition, pleasure). This is becoming increasingly rare, and in general we need an effort of vigilance and sincere observation of what is “false” to resolve the internal conflict.

Joy is the clue. Joy and gratitude without purpose, the two are inseparable. In this case, everything often flows naturally and coordinates easily. But sometimes, if we encounter misunderstanding or hostility, there is necessary suffering, and the feeling is rather that of a stable, deep zone, a kind of peace.

If we are not in tune with ourselves, there is a feeling of duplication, confinement, uneasiness that can be drowned in agitation. But first, we think it’s a general tension, like we are shrinking.

In tune: Feeling of fullness. Tranquility, calm, lightness. Alignment. Duty to perform. Joy.

Out of tune: Anger. Stress. Something squeaky. Arrhythmia, like dissonance. Procrastination. Doubt, self-judgment. Negativity.