We will acquire the good and bad qualities of the place we grew up in. We will also acquire the good and bad qualities of the family we were nurtured.
There is a good story mentioned in Panchatantra that clearly explains this phenomenon.
Once, a fox gave birth to a baby fox and died not long after.
In the same area lived a lioness with a few cubs of her own.
One day, the baby lions were playing around and came across the baby fox. The lioness saw the baby fox with no mother and pitied at it. She asked the baby fox to come and live with them, for which the baby fox happily agreed and started living with them.
Lioness raised the baby fox along with her cubs and even fed her milk to the baby fox.
They were all living happily together. Eventually, baby-fox also learned how to speak like a lion. And they all gradually grew up.
One day when all the lions and the fox were playing together, they saw a huge elephant passing by.
They all at once decided to attack the elephant.
Before the lions could even come up with a plan, the fox raised its hand. “I will attempt it first.”
And before the lions spoke a word, the fox ran ferociously, jumped on the elephant, as if it is going to kill the elephant in one shot.
As the fox jumped on the huge elephant, the fox being so small to be able to jump on top of the elephant, ended up missing the elephant’s body entirely and was forced to grab onto the elephant’s tail.
The elephant didn’t notice the fox hanging on its tail and continued to walk. The lions saw that the fox was about to fall off the elephant and rushed to help the fox down.
The lions then asked the fox, “Why did you do such a risky feat?”
“I couldn’t stop myself,” replied the fox.
Then, one of the lions said, “That’s not how you do it. I will show you.”
The lion ran fiercely to the elephant, jumped on its head, pierced its head with its sharp paws, and killed it at once.
The fox kept thinking “Why was I unable to do it?”
The lions and the fox were playing together and living together; the fox drank the milk of the lioness, too, yet it couldn’t attack an elephant.
Panchatantra scripture says,
यस्मिन् कुले त्वम् उत्पन्नो गजस् तत्र न हन्यते
yasmin kule tvam utpanno gajas tatra na hanyate
[Panchatantra 4.39]Definition: You will acquire good and bad qualities from your birthplace and your family. How can a fox ever kill an elephant like a lion?
In Satsangi Jivan, Shreeji Maharaj has said, “If a person wants to become a saint, we should observe his family lineage, his education (moral values), his background, etc., and then understand if he is eligible to become a saint or not.”
Gunatitanand Swami has outlined how to evaluate a saint. While evaluating a saint, we should find answers to the following three questions:
- What are the values of his Guru, the person from whom he acquired all the saintly values and qualities?
- What are the values of the saint himself?
- What are the values of his disciples, the people who acquired their values and qualities from this saint?
That passing of values from Guru to disciple is called Sampraday/Parampara (lineage), which is very crucial, and which shouldn’t be broken anywhere. If it is broken anywhere, then the values that are passing through are broken.
We should look for what he is taking in and what is coming out of him
Our food defines us.
Here food doesn’t just mean eatable food. Yes, eatable food is important. It also means the food eaten by each sensory organ. Saintliness or fakeness of a person can be noticed by observing what kind of food each of his sense-organ is taking in, and by observing the purity of the object his mind contemplates.
We should see the output that is coming out from him as well. If the output is good, then we can assume that the inside might also be good. If the output is not good, immoral, and filled with selfishness, yet expecting him to be a saint is not right.
The other thing we should observe in him is, “What is his objective? What is he intensely chasing after? What is he intensely hungry for? What are his eyes intensely chasing for? What does he want to achieve in his life?”
We can infer his saintliness or fakeness from his objective as well.
If a person is chasing behind worldly name, fame, greatness, worldly luxuries, comfort, then he is fake. If a person is chasing for his own kalyan, then he is good.
References:
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 11 (Pad 10, 11).
- yasmin kule tvam utpanno gajas tatra na hanyate