It is not enough, if we keep
the senses under control allowing the mind to wander about. Psychic control
is more important than the sense control. Both the mind and the body must
be under control. It is hypocrisy to maintain physical purity without
keeping the mind also pure. When it is an option between the psyche and
the senses, it is better we give priority to the mind and keep it under
restraint.
A monk and a prostitute were neighbours. The
monk was pure physically holding the senses under control. But his mind
was always thinking of the prostitute. Every time a customer visited the
whore, he was placing a pebble in a corner. The heap of pebbles went on
increasing in proportion to the number of visitors to the woman.
They both became old. And one day the monk told
the woman that her sins were on the ascent as the heap of stones, each
of which was to indicate a visitor. The woman was very sorry for her sins
and she repented.
She prayed, prayed and prayed. Though her body was committing the sins,
her mind was kept pure.
It so happened that the monk and the prostitute died
on the same day. Angels came to escort the lady's soul to the heavens
and the messengers of Yama came to take the monk's soul to the hell.
Since the monk's body was pure, it was garlanded and
a grand funeral was arranged by the people. Since the prostitute's body
was sinful, it was not given a respectable funeral.
Let the minds therefore be pure along with the bodies and its senses.
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