as they said. Believe me, devas never lie to monks. They are not
like human beings, who tend to be quite deceitful and untrust-
worthy. When devas make a promise, they always keep it; and
when they make an appointment, they are always right on time. I
have associated with terrestrial and celestial devas for a long time
now and I have never heard them say anything false or deceitful.
They are far more honest and virtuous than humans are. They
scrupulously honor their word as if their very lives depended on
it. They will severely criticize anyone who deviates from his word;
and if that individual does not have a genuinely sound reason for
failing to honor his commitments, they lose all respect for him.
“They have criticized me sometimes, though I had no inten-
tion of being dishonest. On certain occasions I entered into a deep
state of samãdhi prior to the appointed hour. I became absorbed
there, only to find the devas waiting for me when I finally with-
drew to a level where I could access them. When they reproached
me for making them wait so long, I explained that I had been rest-
ing in samãdhi and inadvertently failed to withdraw at the sched-
uled time, a reason which they accepted.
“Then there were other occasions when I reproached the
devas. I explained to them that I am only one individual, yet tens
or even hundreds of thousands of devas from the upper and lower
realms insist on coming to visit this one monk: How could anyone
successfully manage to receive each and every group exactly on
time? There are times when my health is not so good, yet I must
patiently sit there receiving visitors. You should sympathize with
some of the difficulties I face. Sometimes I’m pleasantly absorbed
in samãdhi, only to get roundly criticized when I withdraw a little
later than scheduled. If that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll just keep to
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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