Sai Baba Gita Reading for Today - The Householder and the Monk

December 11, 2003

Sai Baba Gita Reading for TodayDecember 11, 2003- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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The Householder and the Monk

There were two devotees who both had an all-consuming love for God. One was a

householder leading a family life and the other was a renunciate monk. The

family man felt himself to be the servant of the Lord and always practiced the

principle of total surrender to God. The great virtue of the servant stage is

that through the practice of humility and surrender, the ego quickly

disappears. As long as you have egoism, you will not be able to gain the sacred

knowledge of the supreme self.

Egoism can be found everywhere. Even Arjuna, whom Krishna befriended for so

long, and to whom Krishna gave so much encouragement, was riddled with egoistic

feelings throughout his life. It was only after Arjuna threw down his bow and

surrendered himself completely to the Lord, saying, "Command me, O Lord, I will

do whatever you say," that Krishna taught him the highest wisdom of the Gita.

So, the householder started from the very humble beginning which is associated

with "I am your servant, O Lord, I am your instrument", and he expressed his

unshakable love for God that way. On the other hand, the monk, expressed his

love for God by seeking God everywhere he went, in everyone and in everything

he encountered. He would constantly repeat, "Everywhere I look I find only God.

Everything I see is created by God and imbued with God. Everyone I meet is but

God. I too am truly God."

Because of the different circumstances of their lives, these two individuals

adopted different paths to overcome the power of illusion. The householder, by

following the path of a servant became smaller and smaller, until he became so

small that he slipped through the clutches of that fierce tiger maya, the

terrible power of illusion, which had held him in its claws. By losing his ego

he became free. For the monk, the shackles of illusion which had been binding

him were broken to pieces when he transcended his ego limitations by absorbing

himself in the conviction "Everywhere there is only God. All is God. I too am

God. I am God." Through their deep love of God, each in his own way was able to

transcend the power of illusion.

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GitaCompiled and edited by Al Drucker - Published by Atma

Presshttp://www.atmapress.com - ISBN: 0963844903Online Edition:

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