Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Morning Sky And Bird Show / Something For The Mind To Hold Onto



There is a Hindu story comparing the mind to the trunk of an elephant – restless, inquisitive, always straying. In our villages in India, elephants are sometimes taken in religious processions through the streets to the temple. The streets are crooked and narrow, lined on either side with fruit and vegetable stalls. Along comes the elephant with his restless trunk, and in one sinuous motion, he grabs a whole bunch of bananas. He opens his cavernous mouth, and tosses the bananas in – stalk and all. From the next stall he picks up a coconut and tosses it in after the bananas. No threats or promises can make this restless trunk settle down. But the wise elephant trainer will give that trunk a short bamboo stick to hold. Then the elephant will walk along proudly, holding the bamboo stick in front like a drum major with a baton. He doesn’t steal bananas and coconuts now, because his trunk has something to hold onto ...

(from Eknath Easwaran's Thought for the Day for March 31)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I need a bamboo stick!

Taradharma said...

beautiful video -- so many birds!

yes, our thoughts are often unbidden and jump all over the place. it is possible to provide a stick for the mind, and that is why I practice meditation. The thoughts still come, of course, but it helps me view them in a detached sort of way, stepping out of the process and looking in, curiously.