Original recording of The Mother’s recitations of the Dhammapada and her Explanations in French language
Music by Michel Montecrossa: ‘Soul Of The Future’
13 June 1958
Now you are like a withered leaf; the messengers of Yama await you. It is the eve of your departure, and you have made no provision for your journey!
Quickly make for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you are cleansed and purified of all impurity, you will enter the heavenly home of the Noble Ones.
Now your days are numbered, you are in the presence of the God of death. You have no resting-place on the road, no provision for the journey.
Quickly make for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you are cleansed and purified of all impurity, you will be reborn no more, you will no more be subject to decay.
Just as the smith refines the silver, so also, little by little from moment to moment, the wise man purifies himself of his impurities.
When rust appears on iron, the iron itself is corrupted by it. So also, a man’s evil actions corrupt him and lead him to his doom.
Lack of repetition impairs the effect of mantras. Neglect impairs the solidity of houses. Indolence impairs the beauty of the body. Lack of attention is the downfall of one who watches.
Misconduct is the taint of a woman. Meanness is the taint of one who gives. Wrong-doing is a taint in this world and the other.
The greatest of all taints is ignorance. Cleanse yourselves of that taint alone and you will be free of all taints, O Bhikkhus.
Life is easy for one who is impudent as a crow, malicious, boastful, presumptuous and corrupt.
Life is hard for the modest one who seeks purity, who is detached, unassuming and whose judgment is correct.
Already in this world he is uprooted, the one who destroys life, who lies, who takes what he has not been given, who covets the wife of another and who is addicted to drink.
Know that evil things are difficult to master. Let not cravings and wickedness subject you to endless suffering.
Each one gives according to his faith or his liking; if you are discontented with the food and drink offered by another, you will not achieve concentration by night or by day.
But the one who uproots and destroys in himself the very root of such a feeling of resentment, achieves concentration by night and by day.
There is no fire like the fire of craving, no grip like that of hatred. There is no snare like that of delusion, no torrent like desire.
It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to perceive our own shortcomings. We winnow the faults of others like chaff, but we hide our own like the wily gambler concealing his foul throw.
One who always criticises the faults of others and is irritated by them, far from becoming free of faults, increases his own vices.
There is no track in the sky, no Samana outside the true path. Man delights in vanity. The Tathagatas have overcome these obstacles.
There is no track in the sky, no Samana outside the true path. No conditioned thing can last, but the Buddhas remain for ever immutable.
Dhammapada
“It is always the same lesson: one must do as well as one can, the best one can, but without expecting a result, without doing it with a view to the result. Just this attitude, to expect a reward for a good action – to become good because one thinks that this will make life easier – takes away all value from the good action.
You must be good for the love of goodness, you must be just for the love of justice, you must be pure for the love of purity and you must be disinterested for the love of disinterestedness; then you are sure to advance on the way.”
Mira Alfassa – The Mother
Tracks:
- 13.6.1958 ‘Impurity’
- Soul Of The Future
