The self :: A dialogue

Thanks to you.

There is a nice Indian story which I read somewhere long ago.

A thief one night entered into the hut of a sannyasi, not knowing the identity of the dweller. Once inside he realized that there was nothing to steal and so he was going to leave when the sannyasi woke up and called him. "You took the trouble to come to my house, I don’t want that you leave empty-handed. Please take something from my house. The thief was amazed, but took the first object he saw and ran away.

After one week the thief returned to the sannyasy by day time. I’ve heard that you are a great yogi, please can you teach me meditation? I have been to other gurus but all of them told me that they will not teach me meditation unless I quit stealing. Stealing is my job and I cannot quit it.

The sannyasi told him, yes, I will teach you meditation and you don’t need to quit your job. The thief was very happy and asked so what I have to do?
The sannyasi instructed him: be aware of every thought you have and of every action you do. Is that all? Asked the thief? Yes, that’s all.

The thief went away but after one month he returned to the sannyasi:

You have cheated me, you told me that I could go on with my job, but the moment I’m aware of what I’m doing I cannot steal any more!

This, I think, was meant to point out the power of awareness.
I was thinking about it, can that be true also for a lier? I don’t think so, as far as my experience goes, a lier will never change because lying prevent awareness.

Is It Liar or Lier? | Grammarly Blog

I think a liar will lie for many different reasons. Until we know the exact reason behind his actions we cannot make him be aware of the consequences of his/her actions. As in the story, the monk realized that.

I have listened to lies many times. People around me have achieved nothing and I lost nothing in my life too. I have to see how this will go. :slightly_smiling_face:

Whatever it may be, but the content is making sense. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Do you agree with his belief that lying prevents awareness?

The only thing that “prevents” awareness is unconsciousness. A pathological liar may deny or distort what he or she is aware of, and a drug addict can dull awareness, but nothing can prevent awareness during waking consciousness.

Sir,
I do not see it as a belief. If the mind is confirmed to some idea or motive, it is obvious that they will deny to accept the consequences in doing such practice. (At the initial stages)

After they realized what is important and what is not. The next obvious thing is change in the mind set.

This will happen at many different levels in our lives.

I am not getting the meaning out of it. Can you explain in a simple way?

Denying and distorting awareness is not preventing awareness. Awareness is an ongoing fact. The only way to prevent it is to lose consciousness.

Inquiry, I see ambiguity in this statement.

I always thought, I am aware of the situation but my understanding is still not holding the laws of this nature. Finally as a result there is just a conflict. Then, I am aware of my unawareness or a conclusion.

If the mind is not open to such process , it goes on with some idea/belief. Until that idea/belief has been wiped out, the mind will not change the course of actions. It requires intelligence to hit that aspect, that is the reason why we are talking about Jiddu mostly. :slightly_smiling_face:

By “wiped out” we mean the falseness of it is revealed, but it remains in the library of lies because its falseness retains.