A man was angling in a lake while remaining all absorbed in himself. It took quite a while for his float to show any movement till it'stip finally touched water indicating some fish was tugging at the bait.
At this critical juncture, when the angler was on the verge of sensing the fish caught securely and pull up the rod, a passerby sauntered up and asked, ?Sir, can you tell me where Shri Banerji lives?? There was no reply from the angler, who was anticipating a fish getting caught remained all agog holding the rod tightly clenched in his hands.
The stranger belted out his question yet again almost yelling at the angler, ?Sir, can you tell me where Shri Banerji lives?? But all his effort fell on deaf ear, as the angler remained nonchalant, oblivious of all his surroundings. The angler'shands were prancing to and fro while his eyes remained riveted to the float. The stranger was utterly annoyed and vexed at the angler'simportunity and huffing and puffing left the place and proceeded on his way.
After quite sometime, it so happened, that the angler'sfloat sank under water and with one pull of the rod, the fish landed beside him. By then, the passer-by had traversed some considerable distance ahead. After this toil of catching the fish, the angler wiped sweat and grime from his face with his towel and shouted after the stranger, Stranger, ?Hey! Come Here. Listen!? But the passer-by remained sullen refusing even to turn back his face.
Now the angler cajoled and pleaded and then finally the passer-by came back and said, ?What'sup? Why are you shouting at me now?? The angler earnestly asked him, ?What did you ask me about?? The stranger found it incredulous and disbelieved that the angler couldn'thave heard his thundering voice, repeatedly. The passerby felt badgered and asked, ?Why do you ask me to repeat my question?? The angler made a candid confession? ?At that critical juncture, my float was about to sink and so not a word of yours went into my hearing.?
Such single-mindedness is vaunted in meditation; everything fades into oblivion with no hearing or seeing taking place. Even tactile sensation is lost. A snake may crawl over his body and yet he would not have an inkling of it.
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