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Once, at the hermitage of a venerated guru, a disciple became enlightened after years of penance and instruction at his master's feet. "O master," he said, "I realize what you have been saying all along: God and I are one. Only by the power of illusion have I been making a distinction between myself and God. By your kindness I amawakened. I am inunion wiht the formless, limitless and ineffable supreme." When the guru indicated that the disciple had understood rightly, the disciple asked his master's blessing to go alone on a pilgrimage. On his way, he walked down the middle of the streets, pondering the implications of his recent enlightenment. After some time, he heard an elephant drivershouting from atop his elephant, "Make way for the elephant! Move out of the road!" He saw pedestrians fearfully scurrying out of the elephant's path. "If I am God," our hero reasoned, "Why should I move out of the road for an elephant? That would betray my convictions. The elephant should stand aside for me." Before long, he and the elephant came face to face. "Make way for the elephant," the mahout shrieked in panic, but the ascetic stood his ground. The elephant then grabbed him around the waist, and tossed him out of the way. The ascetic sustained a broken arm and some ugly bruises. Early the next day he hobbled inot his spiritual master's presence, where he related the incident. "O master," he cried at the conclusion, "just yesterday I thought I'd completely understood your teachings, but look what happened when I applied them. How could such a misfortune happen to me, and on the very day when I realized your instructions?" With a slight hint of annoyance, the benign master chided, "Did you not hear God on top of the elephant telling you to move out of the way?" MORAL: This story demonstrates one of the severe flaws in the philosophy of monism, which states that there is absolute oneness - without differentiation - of all beings, including God. As the story shows, if everyone is elevated to the status of God, only calamity can result from the confusion as to who should have the right of way when a conflict of interest arises.
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