In one forest lived a sage who had a large number of disciples. He taught them the truth: “God lives in all things, and knowing this, you should kneel before everything you see.”
One day one of his students went into the forest to get firewood. On the way, he saw a mad elephant rushing towards him. The man sitting on the elephant shouted:
- Get off the road, get off the road quickly! The elephant is mad!
But the student, instead of running away, remembered the lessons of his teacher and began to reason: “God lives in the elephant, just like in me. God cannot do any harm to God. Why should I run?" Thinking in this way, he remained standing and greeted the elephant as it came closer. The driver continued to shout, “Get out of the way!”, but the student did not move. The mad elephant grabbed him, lifted him into the air and threw him to the ground with all his might. The student was left lying on the ground, covered in blood and unconscious.
The sage, having heard about the accident, came with his other disciples to carry the victim home. When the student came to his senses after some time, he told what happened to him. The sage answered him:
“My friend, it is true that God manifests himself in everything, but if he was in the elephant, he was also in the driver. Tell me, why didn't you pay attention to the driver's warning?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru