Leaf – Counters

The whole world reads Bibles, Vedas, and Korans; but they are all only words, syntax, etymology, philology, and the dry bones of religion. The teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away by the force of words loses the spirit. It is the knowledge of the spirit of the scriptures alone that constitutes the true religious teacher. The network of the words of the scriptures is life a huge forest in which the human mind often loses itself and finds no way out.

Ramakrishna used to tell a story of some men who went into a mango orchard and busied themselves in counting the leaves, the twigs, and the branches, examining their color, comparing their size, and noting down everything most carefully, and then got up a learned discussion on each of these topics, which were undoubtedly highly interesting to them. But one of the them, more sensible then the others, did not care for all these things, and instead thereof, began to eat the mango fruit. And was he not wise? So leave this counting of leaves and twigs and note taking to others. This kind of work has its proper place, but not here in the spiritual domain. You never see a strong spiritual man among the “ leaf – counters “.

     

- Swami Vivekananda – Page 128 ( Meditation and Its Methods )