Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

Nisargadatta left his family for a brief time, maybe
a year or two then came back to run his beedie shop.
The Buddhist tradition contains both the ideals of
being wandering monks, or establishment or monastic
monks, and also of being laypersons carrying out one's
duties to family and society, and then when the
children are grown, to become a monk, dedicated to
seeking or to good works for mankind.
Now, I ask, “Is it you who is seeking to live in
emptiness and therefore keep living like a wandering
monk, or this is happening to you out of grace? Are
you deliberately creating a world that is falling apart,
or is consciousness dishing it out to you?”
The other question is, “Is this path you are
treading giving you happiness or do you feel a victim
or neither?”
I hope soon this pattern will end for you so that
you can really help the world in a bigger way.
Robert said if it were not for his wife and
daughters, he'd be living somewhere in a cabin in the
wilderness or a cave.
I feel that way also, except I feel bound by a sense
of responsibility of taking care of my cats and other
homeless cats, for these reasons I remain in the world.
Otherwise, I think I would be living in a tent