Another Parable: The Two Saints and the Hermit on the Island

The Two Saints and the Hermit on the Island

So this is another Indian parable. I like this one. It means a lot more than what I am going to use it to explain. That is the nature of stories that mean something. They express a lot more than you could have by trying to explain things in rational terms because the meaning is open ended. I particularly like this story.

The story is of two Brahmin Saints who are making a journey on a boat. In their journey they come to an island where they find a hermit. He is doing many of the same rituals they perform in their daily observances. They see him performing these rituals and are dismayed at how many of the rituals he has been performing incorrectly and how many of the chants he is pronouncing improperly.

They go about showing him the correct way of performing all the rituals and pronouncing all the sacred chants. After several weeks they show him as much as they can and feel frustrated because of how hard it seems for this Hermit to learn the proper ways of performing these holy rites. However, they feel they have spent enough time on the island it is time for them to move on. So, hoping he has learned enough, they set sail.

But as the two saints are about a mile away from the island sailing off on their next adventure, the hermit comes running up to them in their boat and says: “Please don’t go yet. I am not sure I will remember everything you have shown me. Can you come back and show me one last time?”

The two saints, perplexed and amazed look at each other and say to the hermit: “We were wrong. Go back to your island and do all your rites and rituals exactly how you were performing them before we arrived. You were doing them correctly after all!”

And so the hermit walked back over the sea to shore much relieved and went back to his own methods of practice.

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The intention with which you perform an action is sometimes more important than the methods or techniques you use in their performance. Sometimes doing something “correctly” is not as important as whether your inner intention is coming from the “right” place. There are many methods and techniques, many correct ways of doing things. If you think you know what is “right” and you see someone doing something differently than how you thought it was supposed to be done, they might be doing something in a useful manner even if it is not the same method you use.

I don’t know if this needs further comment. I don’t know if it needed any of my comments in the first place.

Peace.

UpSideDownCarl