Page 27 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

around, beckoned him and made him sit at his lotus feet.
as for us, we got attracted to this sage so much so that we became eager to know about him. But no early chance came our way. Within a few days, we noticed a light in a hut amid a garden, close to ‘Lalkothi’. We became all the more curious about the said light at the same place at night. On enquiry, we were informed that one sage had been staying in that small hut for the last few
days, so we decided to meet him before long.
One day at noon we paid our visit to the said hut. The sage
was then reportedly having a nap, after his midday meal. The moment we saw him, we got surprised as he got up and cordially invited us to sit down. On paying our obeisance, we sat at a charpai at the gate of the hut and prayed for a holy discourse. Blessed were we to have listened to his holy words of which a gem of an advice is still vivid in my mind. said the sage: attachment with or attraction to things ephemeral as well as our five vices never earns one things eternal. To substantiate this point, our Baba (i.e. the said sage) told us a few parables like the following:
it was the hermitage of a great sage. a mother dog with five of her cubs used to live near it. Every time a man wanted to meet the sage, he failed to do so because he was howled and snarled at by the canine family. None of the visitors could have the fortune of meeting the hermit. But when an intelligent soul, making no show of anger or any emotion, intently as well as humbly intended to meet the hermit, the latter was pleased enough to oblige him by keeping aside the dog.
The parable over, the sage explained the inner meaning by saying that the hermit is none other than God. The mother dog is nothing but attachment and her cubs are but the irrepressible human vices that include lewdness, rage, greed, pride and enmity. Out of Avidya (i.e. ignorance) are born these five vices in man. if one duly overcomes these vices, and intently wants to get near God making a fervent appeal to him, then he becomes benignant and helps man to overcome the obstacles that confront him on the way. Thus spoke sri Krishna in the Gita (7-14):
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