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| I Will Always Love You - mid |
A beautiful story for you:
Paddy came home an hour earlier
than usual and found his
wife stark naked on the bed. When he asked why, she ex-
plained, "I am protesting because I don't have any nice
clothes to wear."
Paddy pulled open the closet door. "That's ridiculous,"
he said, "look in here. There is a yellow dress, a red dress, a
print dress, a pantsuit, . . Hi, Bill!" And he goes on, "A green
dress..."
This is compassion! It is compassion to his
wife, it is compassion
to Bill. No jealousy, no fight, just simply, "Hi, Bill! How are you?"
and he goes on. He never even inquires, "What
are you doing in my
closet?''
Compassion is very understanding. It is the finest understanding
that is possible to man.
A man of compassion should not be disturbed by small things in
life, which are happening every moment. Only then, in an indirect
way, are you helping your compassionate energies to accumulate, to
crystallize, to become stronger, and to go on rising with your medi-
tation. So the day the blissful moment comes, when you are full of
light, there will be at least one companion--compassion. And imme-
diately a new style of life . . . because now you have so much that
you can bless the whole world.
Although Gautam Buddha insisted constantly, finally he had to
make a division, a categorization amongst his disciples. One cate-
gory he calls arhatas; they are enlightened people, but without com-
passion. They have put their whole energy into meditation, but they
have not listened to what Buddha has said about compassion. And
the other he calls bodhisattvas; they have listened to his message of
compassion. They are enlightened with compassion, so they are not
in a hurry to go to the other shore; they want to linger on this shore,
with all kinds of difficulties, to help people. Their boat has arrived,
and perhaps the captain is saying, "Don't waste time, the call has
come from the other shore which you have been seeking all your
life." But they persuade the captain to wait a little, so that they can
share their joy, their wisdom, their light, their love with all those peo-
ple who are also searching the same. This will become a feeling of
trust in them: "Yes, there is another shore, and when one is ripe, a
boat comes to take you to the other shore. There is a shore of im-
mortals, there is a shore where no misery exists, where life is simply
a moment-to-moment song and a dance. But let me at least give
these people a little taste before I leave the world.''
And masters have tried in every possible way to cling to some-
thing so that they are not swept away to the other shore. According
to Buddha, compassion is the best, because compassion is also a de-
sire, in the final analysis. The idea to help somebody is also a desire,
and as long as you keep the desire you cannot be taken to the other
shore. It is a very thin thread that keeps you attached to the world.
Everything is broken, all chains are broken--except a thin thread of
love. But Buddha's emphasis is, keep hold of that thin thread as long
as possible; as many people that can be helped, help them.
Your enlightenment should not have a selfish motive, it should
not be just yours; you should make it shared as widely, to as many
people, as possible. That's the only way to raise the consciousness on
the earth--which has given you life, which has given you the chance
to become enlightened.
This is the moment to pay back something, although you cannot
pay back everything that life has given to you. But something--just
two flowers--in gratitude.
MEDITATION THE FLOWER AND
COMPASSION THE FRAGRANCE
Without meditation, energy remains passion,
with meditation, the same energy becomes
compassion. Passion and compassion are
not two energies, they are one and the same.
{More to come on compassion}
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