A Steady Mind alone can Understand Matters relating to the Âtmâ
Respect or disrespect which others give has no meaning. These are simply words. There is a small story to illustrate this. In a village, there were two individuals. One of them always used a horse for making his journeys. The second individual would make all his journeys by walking with a pillow in his hand. One day, both of them had to start for the same village at the same time. On that occasion, the man who was accustomed to carry the pillow led the way. Behind him was the person travelling on horseback. On the way, there was another small village through which both these persons passed. The villagers looked at the individual carrying the pillow and thought that he was a peon, carrying the papers, ahead of the master coming behind. They looked at the man on horseback and they thought that he was the officer. In early days, because there were no cars, all the officers used to make their journeys on horseback. That is why the villagers thought that way. As soon as they reached the destination, the man with the pillow went straight into a rest-house and sat in a comfortable and boastful manner, resting himself on the pillow. The other was looking around for a place to tie up his horse. The villagers looked at both of them and thought that the man with the pillow was the officer and the man trying to tie up the horse was the peon. This is how respect and disrespect take shape in the world. The person who was thought to be peon in the former village was thought to be the officer in the latter village. This is only imagination on the part of the onlookers and flows from the minds of people. In this process neither respect nor disrespect has come to either of them as a result of intrinsic worth
