Podcast details
Forgiveness and humility
A story illustrates the difference between physical action and mental attachment.
Two traveling priests were taught to avoid worldly attachments. On their journey back to their master, they encountered a girl needing to cross a wide river. One priest carried her across on his back to help her. They continued their long walk. As they neared their destination, one priest questioned the other about breaking their master's rule against touching a woman. The carrying priest replied that while he had physically carried the girl and then set her down, his brother was still mentally carrying the event with him. The lesson is that the true transgression is not the physical act of help, but the lingering mental judgment and attachment to it.
"You know, I helped that girl, and I carried her on my back, but I dropped her immediately there on the bank of the river."
"But I am surprised that you are still carrying her with you."
Filming location: Sydney, Australia
This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.
The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
