Number is Secondary
A few pillars support the ceiling of a large hall. A small number of compassionate people can keep a society in good shape.
The violence and corruption around us definitely tend to unnerve us many a time. What can we, a small number, do? Will it make a difference at all to the world at large, if a few of us change? No wonder such questions or doubts make us lose the sense of urgency about change. What is worse, we look out and expect others to change.
An old story goes that there was a big fool in a certain village, who thought he was very wise. He was seized by fear one morning, “What if the sky falls down?” He noticed there were no pillars holding the sky and it seemed to him that humanity was in great danger. The terrible thing could happen anytime.
Everybody laughed at him and many just ignored him as he posed the question to the people of his village. Somebody at last said to him, “Go to the wise man in the forest; he will answer your doubt.”
The fool went straight to the muni (sage) in the forest and said, “Tell me why the sky is not falling. I do not see any pillars supporting it.” The muni asked him to stay for a few days at the forest and he would be given the right answer. The next day, the muni said to the fool, “Please go to the small town to the north of our hermitage and beg at the doorsteps of a few houses. Bring some grains, vegetables and such things.” Before the fool could get going, the muni said, “One more thing. Please remember to scold the people of the house as they bring food to give to you.”
The fool did exactly as told. Even as the women of different houses brought rice, wheat, vegetables or fruits to him, he verbally abused them. As a normal reaction to such behavior on the part of a beggar, the householders refused to give him any help and many of them rebuked him in return.
Surprisingly, however, there were a few, very few indeed, places where the lady of the house listened patiently to his irresponsible outbursts and, smiling gently, gave him alms anyway! The fool thus successfully brought a little food to the muni, to the latter’s delight. After this happened a few times, the muni said to the fool one day, “Look! People like these ladies are the pillars that hold the sky. They were kind to you in spite of your thoughtless behavior towards them. They are the invisible pillars that prevent disasters from happening.”
Maharshi Mahesh Yogi used to say that a society will be totally free of crime if just two per cent of the population meditates daily. Pulled down by unnecessary doubts and endless apprehensions, we do not live in peace. If only we slow down, sit in silence and observe how the self operates in us, unbelievable change will take place in us. When we change, the world around us also changes.
We ask, “We may be loving and compassionate. How will it help when the other person has a knife in his hand?” The answer is, “Be truly loving and compassionate for a couple of years and see. You will face successfully a dozen people rushing towards you with knives in hand.”
Swami Chidananda
Varanasi