There's a fairy tale called "The Princess and the Pea." The princess, the true princess, was born into a kingly family and then somehow or other was estranged from her family. There was a mix-up, and when the royal family came to know of it, they wanted to reclaim their daughter, the princess. So they put out a royal edict that anyone could come to their home, because they were in search of the real princess. Thousands signed up for it, and there was a lineup, because everyone thought, "Well, maybe they'll just claim me."
And they had a device to determine who was the princess. Does anybody remember what it was? It's in the title: the pea. So, for the sake of this story, it was a garbanzo bean, or a chickpea, that was dried up. If you've ever seen those, if you step on one, you'll know it's like a little stone. So what they did is they put the pea on the floor, and then they put seven mattresses on it, and made the bed for the visiting candidates for princess-hood. They would give a royal feast and then invite the candidate, "Here, here's your room, royal bedstead. Please go to sleep, enjoy yourself." And in the morning, they would interview, "How did you rest last night?"
All the candidates, one after another, would say, "Oh, the best sleep I ever had! Thank you very much for your hospitality." And they'd say, "Next." And finally, after hundreds and hundreds, they came to one, and the royal feast, invited her to her room, "Please have a nice rest tonight." And in the morning, the person said, "I couldn't get any rest at all!" And they said, "Why not?" "There was something hard underneath." And they said, "Aha! Here's the princess!" The idea is, her body was so delicate as a princess that she couldn't tolerate even the protrusion of one little pea underneath seven mattresses. That's the idea.
In a similar way, no matter what kind of situation we arrange for ourselves in this world, as conscious beings who are used to subtlety, aesthetic beauty that's beyond anything we can see in this world—because this world is a reflection of the spiritual world—we just can't get comfortable. You can never get comfortable in any body, and no matter how much money you have, no matter how fit you feel, still there's a pea under those seven mattresses. And you go, "Ugh, it's not right!"
So, this spiritual practice is something that brings us back to a real comfort. When we know who we really are and we don't have to struggle with a false identity and keep up appearances, then we feel naturally enlivened in life and happy, not the least of which is because we don't die.
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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/
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Add to your wisdom literature collection:
https://iskconsv.com/book-store/
https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/
https://thefourquestionsbook.com/
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