myself and not waste my time and energy receiving visitors. What
do you say to that? When rebuked like this, the devas invariably
admitted their mistake and immediately asked for forgiveness.
“Those devas who visit me often are familiar with my way
of doing things, so, they don’t mind if I am a little late sometimes.
It’s those who have never come before that tend to mind my being
late, since by nature they place such a high value on truthfulness.
All devas from all realms, including terrestrial devas, are the same
in this respect. Sometimes, being aware that I must withdraw from
a restful state of samãdhi to receive them, they do worry about the
moral consequences of criticizing me for not keeping my word. I
occasionally counter their reproaches by telling them I actually
value my word more than my own life: ‘The reason that I did not
withdraw from samãdhi in time to receive you was due to an obli-
gation I have to Dhamma, which is something far more important
than any promise made to a deva. Although devas and brahmas of
the celestial realms possess nonphysical forms more refined than
this human body of mine, my citta and my sense of truthfulness
are exceedingly more subtle than those of all the devas and brah-
mas combined. But I am not one to talk incessantly about such
things like some idiot. I mention it to you now only to remind you
how important the Dhamma I maintain really is. So please con-
sider the consequences carefully before criticizing me.’
“Once I explained my true priorities to them, the devas real-
ized their mistake and felt very concerned about the moral impli-
cations of what they had done. Together they asked for my for-
giveness. I made a point of assuring them that I do not feel any
resentment toward any living being in the whole universe: ‘I put
my trust in the Dhamma of compassion and loving kindness which
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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