लोभसुत्तं

 वुत्तञ्हेतं भगवता, वुत्तमरहताति मे सुतं –

मैंने यह सुना है कि भगवान , अर्हत (बुद्ध) ने ऐसा कहा -

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard:


‘‘एकधम्मं, भिक्खवे, पजहथ; अहं वो पाटिभोगो अनागामिताय।

"भिक्षुओ , यदि तुम एक अवगुण त्याग दो तो मैं वचन देता हूँ कि तुम्हारा फिर जन्म नहीं होगा ।

Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return.

कतमं एकधम्मं? लोभं, भिक्खवे, एकधम्मं पजहथ; अहं वो पाटिभोगो अनागामिताया’’ति।

कौन सा अवगुण ? लोभ एक ऐसा अवगुण है जिसे त्याग दो तो मैं वचन देता हूँ कि तुम्हारा फिर जन्म नहीं होगा ।

" Which one quality? Abandon greed as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."

एतमत्थं भगवा अवोच।

भगवान के वचन का यही अर्थ था ।

This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said.

तत्थेतं इति वुच्‍चति –

इसीलिए इस सम्बन्ध में ऐसा कहा गया -

So with regard to this it was said:

‘‘येन लोभेन लुद्धासे, सत्ता गच्छन्ति दुग्गतिं।
तं लोभं सम्मदञ्‍ञाय, पजहन्ति विपस्सिनो।

जिस लोभ से लुब्ध होकर लोग दुर्गति प्राप्त करते हैं , उसे दृष्टिवान लोग अच्छी तरह समझ कर छोड़ देते हैं।

The greed with which beings go to a bad destination,coveting: from rightly discerning that greed, those who see clearly let go

पहाय न पुनायन्ति, इमं लोकं कुदाचन’’न्ति॥

लोभ छोड़कर वे इस लोक में फिर कभी नहीं आते।

Letting go, they never come to this world again.

अयम्पि अत्थो वुत्तो भगवता, इति मे सुतन्ति। पठमं।

भगवान् के वचन का यह अर्थ भी था , ऐसा मैंने सुना है।

This, too, was the meaning of what was said by the Blessed One, so I have heard.




खुद्दकनिकाये इतिवुत्तकपाळि १. येककनिपातो .
English translation from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, September 19, 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.1.001-027.than.html.
हिंदी अनुवाद : राजीव

Prayer and Solitude

The great work of the solitary life is gratitude. the hermit is one who knows the mercy of God better than other men because his whole life is one of complete dependence, in silence and in hope, upon the hidden mercy of our Heavenly Father.
The further I advance into solitude the more clearly I see the goodness of all things.
In order to live happily in solitude I must have a compassionate knowledge of the goodness of other men, a reverent knowledge of the goodness of all creation and a humble knowledge of the goodness of my own body and of my own soul. How can I live in solitude if I do not see everywhere the goodness of God,my creator and Redeemer and the Father of all good?
What is it that has made me evil and hateful to myself? It is my own folly, my own darkness, which have divided me , by sin, against the light which God has placed in my soul to be the reflection of His goodness and the witness of His mercy.
Shall I drive evil out of my soul by wrestling with my own darkness? This is not what God has planned for me. It is sufficient to turn away from darkness to His light. I do not have to run away from myself : it is sufficient that I find myself, not as I have made myself, by my own stupidity,but as He has made me in his wisdom and remade me in His infinite mercy. For it is His will that my body and soul should be the Temple of His Holy Spirit, that my life should reflect the radiance of His love and my whole being repose in His peace. Then I will truly know Him , since I am in Him and He is truly in me.


Thomas Merton ( Thoughts in Solitude)

Rahere

RAHERE, King Henry's jester, feared by all the Norman Lords
For his eye that pierced their bosoms, for his tongue that shamed their swords;
Fed and flattered by the Churchmen - well they knew how deep he stood
In dark Henry's crooked counsels - fell upon an evil mood.
Suddenly, his days before him and behind him seemed to stand
Stripped and barren, fixed and fruitless as those leagues of naked sand
When St. Michael's ebb slinks outward to the bleak horizon-bound,
And the trampling wide-mouthed waters are withdrawn from sight and sound.

Then a Horror of Great Darkness sunk his spirit and anon,
(Who had seen him wince and whiten as he turned to walk alone)
Followed Gilbert the Physician, and muttered in his ear,
"Thou hast it, O my brother?" "Yea, I have it," said Rahere.

"So it comes," said Gilbert smoothly, "man's most immanent distress.
'Tis a humour of the Spirit which abhorreth all excess;
And, whatever breed the surfeit - Wealth, or Wit, or Power, or Fame
(And thou hast each) the Spirit laboureth to expel the same.

"Hence the dulled eye's deep self-loathing - hence the loaded leaden brow;
Hence the burden of Wanhope that aches thy soul and body now.
Ay, the merriest fool must face it, and the wisest Doctor learn;
For it comes - it comes," said Gilbert, " as it passes - to return."

But Rahere was in his torment, and he wandered, dumb and far,
Till he came to reeking Smithfield where the crowded gallows are..
(Followed Gilbert the Physician) and beneath the wrynecked dead,
Sat a leper and his woman, very merry, breaking bread.

He was cloaked from chin to ankle - faceless, fingerless, obscene
Mere corruption swaddled man-wise, but the woman whole and clean;
And she waited on him crooning, and Rahere beheld the twain,
Each delighting in the other, and he checked and groaned again.

So it comes, - it comes," said Gilbert, "as it came when Life began.
'Tis a motion of the Spirit that revealeth God to man.
In the shape of Love exceeding, which regards not taint or fall,
Since in perfect Love, saith Scripture, can be no excess at all.

Hence the eye that sees no blemish - hence the hour that holds no shame.
Hence the Soul assured the Essence and the Substance are the same.
Nay, the meanest need not miss it, though the mightier pass it by;
For it comes - it comes," said Gilbert, "and, thou seest, it does not die!"


KIPLING

Keep Me Fully Glad

Keep me fully glad with nothing.
Only take my hand in your hand.
In the gloom of the deepening night take up my heart
And play with it as you wish.
Bind me close to you with nothing.
I will spread myself out at your feet and lie still.
Under this clouded sky I will meet silence with silence.
I will become one with the night clasping the earth in my breast.
Make my life glad with nothing.
The rains sweep the sky from end to end.
Jasmines in the wet untamable wind revel in their own perfume.
The cloud-hidden stars thrill in secret.
Let me fill to the full my heart with nothing but my own depth of joy.
~ A poem by Rabindranath Tagore

HOPE

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me

Emily Dickinson

Only Thee

That I want thee, only thee---let my heart repeat without end.
All desires that distract me, day and night,
are false and empty to the core.
As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light,
even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry
---`I want thee, only thee'.
As the storm still seeks its end in peace
when it strikes against peace with all its might,
even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love
and still its cry is
---`I want thee, only thee'

Rabindranath

Who is This?

I came out alone on my way to my tryst.
But who is this that follows me in the silent dark?
I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not.
He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger;
he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter.
He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame;
but I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company.

Rabindranath Tagore