| Tolstoy
says, "A man might even commit murder under the influence of
cigarettes." It is a kind of intoxication. Why does man lose
himself in such pleasure? Because he does not know where his true
joy lies. Man is beguiled by shadows. He derives his pleasure only
from his five senses. If he did not have the sense of sight, he
would imagine that the world offers only four kinds of pleasures.
If tomorrow, a man comes down from
Mars with six senses, these poor people with only five would cry in
sorrow, "Compared to him, how despicable we are!" How can
the full meaning of the universe be apprehended by these five
senses? Even among the objects of these five senses, man chooses
only a few, and is lost in them. When the donkey's braying reaches
his ear, he says in disgust, "What an inauspicious noise!"
But is not the sight of you
inauspicious to the donkey? If it hurts you, do you never hurt
others, even granting that the braying of the donkey is
inauspicious? When I was studying in Baroda College, some celebrated
European musicians visited the College. No doubt, they sang
marvelously, but since I was not used to that kind of music, I sat
there wondering, when I could escape this infliction. I decided that
they did not deserve to pass.
|
