Hari
OM
Story-day is for cultural exploration, puraanas and
parables and finding out about leading lights in spiritual philosophy.
Gurudev was an erudite man. He had the great gift, too, of bringing
ancient understanding bang up to date. Here is an example he used for why it is
we should look at all the 'knobs' in life!
Is Spiritual Knowledge a must for Right Living?
Somebody once
donated a radio and said, “Swamiji, this is yours!” He told me how to switch it
on when I admitted that I know little about the radio. Every morning when I
would switch it on, cheap cinema songs would be heard and I would switch it
off. Further I received only Colombo station. So next day in the satsaṅga I
told them that the radio is useless as I was not getting Delhi station at all.
In the satsanga was
present the general manager of Philips. When he heard me saying that the
Philips radio was useless, he came to me and said, “Swamiji, I am from Philips.
Were you complaining about the Philips radio?” I said, “This radio is Philips
and whenever I switch it on, no other station except Colombo is heard.” The
general manager smiled and told me, “Swamiji, there are four more knobs. If you
turn the first one, it receives various stations. The second knob is used to
control the volume. The third is ‘tuning’ to eliminate disturbances.” Then when
I started using it, it was working beautifully!
All of you are
beautiful machines, guaranteed for life, until you die! But you do not know how
to use it. You create disturbances for yourself and others. You do not know how
to remove them. You do not know which knob to control. You have been given a wonderful
life as a gift.
You did not ask for
it. The moment you emerge from the mother’s womb, varied faculties have been
given to you as gifts. You take them home to make use of them. But if you
misuse and abuse them, then you are digging your own grave of sorrow and
tension, stresses and strains, and you also distribute the same to others
continuously!
We do not study the
scriptures and, therefore, we do not know how to grow through their use. God
has, in fact, created a beautiful world. You make it dirty by your choice. You
have the freedom to do so!
If I don’t have the
knowledge, even if the machine is beautiful, I cannot make use of it. Unless
one knows the scriptures, no one can live perfectly in any department of
activity.
