Making the right choice

The modes bind us day in day out. But if we do make the right sattva choices, we allow sattva to control us; it is a cyclical feed.

An Indian folktale says it better:

Three brothers, Sattva, Rajas and Tamo walked daily from their village to sell hats in the city. One early morning Tamo left to make his sale and after a tiring walk, took some rest under a tree. When he woke up, he saw all his hats were gone; the monkeys on the branches of the huge tree had taken them all. He immediately was filled with worry and sadness.

“Oh, how will I get money now? I am finished. Llife is so harsh and fate so terrible,” moaned Tamo as he walked up to a country bar and got himself drunk to forget his fears.

A little later Rajas left and while he too rested under a tree, the monkeys took away all his hats from the bag. On waking up, Rajas was mad with anger. He hurled the choicest of curses at the monkeys and threw stones but all to no avail. Finally, he tired himself out in his desperate attempt to get back the hats and left dejected and determined to take revenge on the monkeys.

Sattva left for the city a little later in the day and rested under the same tree. The monkeys took his hats as well. When Sattva woke up and realized what the monkeys had done, he didn’t panic nor react hastily. He thought for a moment and drew out his own hat from his pocket and pointing it to the monkeys, provoked them with repeated grinning and a frowning face. Having captured their attention, Sattva suddenly, in an animated act, threw his own hat to the ground. The monkeys followed suit; they threw from the branches all the hats they had gathered. Sattva immediately picked them up and put them in his own bag. Then quietly and speedily he left the place. He went to the city, made a good sale, returned home early that evening and rested peacefully at night.To be continued…

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