A man went to the head of his village with a complaint. He said to the official, “Sir, I need a favour. My room is full of filth and smells awful. I have four brothers. One has dogs. The other has cats. The third has hens. And the fourth has rabbits. With all these animals, my room is full of filth and smells awful. Sir, there is no fresh air in the room! I am totally suffocating. You should advise them and find a solution to this. At least if I get a bit of fresh air that would do”
The official asked, “Doesn’t the room have doors or windows?”
“Yes, it does,” said the man.
“Then, why don’t you keep them open?” the official asked. “You would get fresh air then.”
The man responded, “What are you saying! Then all my pet pigeons will fly away!”
We often fail to see our own mistakes. If we just open our hearts, we will experience the fresh air of grace. Without correcting our own mistakes, we always look at the mistakes of others. It shouldn’t be like that. Our hearts should open. Then we will experience the fresh air of grace and could bring about a positive change.
We see ourselves as right and others as wrong. These are the poisonous serpents. It is on such heads of ego that Krishna danced in order to remove the poison of ego. When the ego is being treated, we may feel pain. This pain is a sign that the poison within us is being drained away. It is through experiences that we know what is right and wrong in spite of how much advice we get.
If you tell a child, “Don’t touch fire; your hand will burn,” the child may still touch it. Once the child is burnt, it will never touch fire again. It is said that what cannot be corrected through advice can be done through experiences. We should look within and correct ourselves from advice without waiting for experiences.
Let us look within using the torch of Sri Krishna’s light and try to remove the darkness within. May our hearts be open to that divine love. May the Grace of the divine be with us. May all my children have the strength to surrender the mind, with its selfishness and negativities, at the feet of the Lord, which will free us from the self-created jail of ignorance.
We are now imprisoned in the jail of our own creation. We will be able to free ourselves from that jail if we have that surrender.