Neha Singh

Abstract Inspirational Others

3  

Neha Singh

Abstract Inspirational Others

Temptations

Temptations

3 mins
279


What temptations are there? Life is so simple! But you can label things as temptations, then they become temptations.

For example, I had friend who is a Jaina …Up to his eighteenth year he had not tasted the poor tomatoes, because Jainas are absolutely vegetarian and the poor tomato has the color of meat – just the color! When he was eighteen years old, he went for a picnic with a few of my Hindu friends. Heeee was the only Jaina and they were all Hindus. And up to that time he had not eaten in the night either, because Jainas don’t eat in the night – that is a great sin because in the night a mosquito may fall in your food, some insect may crawl in, and unknowingly you may eat something live. That will drag you to hell.


So he had not eaten in the night, and he had not tasted tomatoes up to his eighteenth year. They were great temptations. He had seen tomatoes in the market, and they were really tempting – sitting so meditatively, so centered, so grounded. Potatoes are also not allowed in Jaina families because they grow beneath the ground, and anything that grows in darkness is dangerous to eat because it will bring darkness to your soul. He was feeling hungry – the journey, the traveling, and the mountains’ fresh air. He was feeling hungry and the night was coming closer, and he was feeling afraid also: “What is going to happen? If they cook food in the night, then he will have to sleep without food.” And his stomach was hurting. Then they started cooking food. And great temptations: tomatoes, potatoes, and the beautiful smell of the food. He was wavering between temptation and virtue.


One moment he would decide “It is better to sleep one night without food – one cannot die – rather than suffer hell and hellfire just for a few tomatoes and a few potatoes.” But then the hunger was too much. And then the argument started coming to him: if all my friends are going to hell, what is he going to do in heaven? It is better to be with friends in hell than to be with the Jaina saints in heaven. At least in hell you can cook tomatoes, potatoes, you can eat well, there is enough fire. Even he can cook there! And they all tried to persuade him: “There is nobody else here, and we are not going to tell your family, either. Nobody will ever come to know that you have eaten in the night, that you have eaten tomatoes or potatoes.”


Reluctantly, hesitatingly, he agreed. But he could not sleep until he vomited in the middle of the night. Nobody else vomited – they were all fast asleep and snoring – only he vomited. It was his psychology, because he was suffering from the idea that he had committed a sin. It was not the tomatoes that he vomited, it was his attitude. And that day it became clear, absolutely clear, that you can live life totally only if you drop all attitudes. Otherwise you will live partially, and to live partially is not to live at all.


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