Parable of The Sheep and The Wolf
A man was guarding a large
herd of sheep. He sat on a small mound and drove away all the wolves that tried
to approach the herd, even when the wolves were at a great distance. Evening
set in. The man thought within himself: "Throughout the day I could deal
beautifully with the wolves; not one could ever come anywhere near the herd.
Nothing will happen at night, either. The wolves may not come at all; and even
if they come, I will deal with them properly." Night fell. Whenever the
wolves howled near the herd, the man would shout and imagine the wolves had run
away. But throughout the night, the wolves were busy carrying away several
sheep. When the sun rose again, the man discovered that more than half the herd
had been taken away from him. He became wiser and even while the sun was
shining the next day, he gathered enough fuel and lit a very big torch; and in
the blazing light of the torch he was able to see clearly in the night and keep
the wolves away.
Even so is the case with the
Sadhaka. So long as he is in the living presence of the sun of his spiritual
preceptor, he is able to guard the sheep of his spiritual Samskaras from being
devoured by the wolves of vices. The deluded Sadhaka imagines that as he is
able to guard the sheep against the wolves in the presence of the sun of his
Guru, he is proof against sin. He feels that sins would not even approach him
now! He ventures out. He wanders away from the preceptor, imagining that he is
a Jivanmukta. He delivers fiery lectures attacking sin, vicious life, and Maya.
But in the darkness of ignorance, in the absence of the Guru near him, the
Sadhaka loses most of his virtues. Silently the wolves of vices, against which
he himself has been shouting all the time, enter him and rob him of the greater
part of his virtue. Then, when he returns to the Guru (if, by God's Grace, he
himself had not been swallowed by the wolves of vice before his returning to the
Guru), he discovers that he has lost much of his spiritual wealth by going away
from the Guru. Becoming wiser, he now busies himself in acquiring the fuel of
Sadhana-Chatushtaya, Yama, Niyama, etc. Even while he is in the living presence
of his Guru, he lights up the torch of Discrimination. When this torch is lit,
darkness does not approach him at all; and the wolves of vices do not trouble
him any more. Then is he, really a Yogi and Jivanmukta. The light of the Guru
shines forever in and through him.
Excerpts from:
Parable of the Sheep and the Wolf - Parables of
Sivananda by Sri Swami Sivananda
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