Phenomenal & Numinous!

The jackal became Tiger’s minister. When other servants of the Tiger King saw how much honour & respect was being given to the jackal, they became envious, so much so that while talking amongst themselves, they openly expressed their hatred for the new minister. Because these other servants of the king lived by misappropriating the wealth of others, they saw the jackal as a threat to their existence

First, they tried to bring him to their side by offering him large bribes, but the wise & pious jackal was never tempted. As a result, the other ministers became even more envious & afraid of him. Finally, after conspiring together, they took some very special meat that was meant for the king & placed it inside the jackal’s house

Although the jackal learned of the plot, he remained silent, remembering how the king had agreed to never mistrust him without a sufficient cause. When dinnertime came, the tiger discovered that the meat kept for his meal was missing & so in a fit of anger he ordered his officers to go & catch the thief. Soon thereafter, the deceitful ministers returned & informed the tiger that it was the jackal who had stolen his meat

Upon hearing this, the enraged king ordered that the jackal be immediately put to death. The command greatly pleased the wicked ministers, and to further encourage the tiger, they exclaimed: O King! This jackal is righteous in speech alone. In disposition, he is the most sinful of persons. We can understand that his vegetarianism & other austerities are just a show for achieving his nefarious ends

To prove their accusations, the wicked ministers had paid someone to find the meal in the jackal’s house & then bring it before the king. When the stolen meat, the tiger more vehemently repeated his order: The jackal must be killed at once!

At that time the tiger’s mother came to awaken his good sense. She warned: You should not blindly accept these false accusations, for even the purest individuals have enemies. Sinful persons naturally hate the virtuous, just as those who are lazy hate those who are active, the ugly hate the beautiful, the ignorant hate the learned, and the poor hate the rich. I know for a fact that the jackal never eats meat, even when it is offered to him

My dear son, it is a fact that good persons sometimes resemble those who are wicked & evil persons sometimes adopt the garb of piety. For this reason, careful scrutiny is required to find out the truth. First appearances can be deceptive. One who makes a decision only after sufficient analysis does not have to lament later on for making error of judgement. The jackal is your well-wisher & so it behoves you not to falsely consider him guilty

The things which we see with our naked eyes are not truth always. There is a difference between phenomenal (that which is perceived by our senses) & numinous (spiritual aspect of reality)

Krsna says in Gita:

jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate

I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know

Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. Complete knowledge can be achieved only by the devotee of the Lord in disciplic succession directly from the Lord. Therefore, one should be intelligent enough to know the source of all knowledge, who is the cause of all causes and the only object for meditation in all types of yoga practice. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown

Thoughts? #gameoflife