Do not become slaves to any holy book. There was once a man
who formed a religious cult and people regarded him as a very learned person.
He had a few followers who recorded his instructions in a book. Over the years
the book became voluminous with all sorts of instructions recorded therein. The
followers were advised not to do anything without first consulting the holy
book. Whenever the followers went and whatever they did, they would consult the
book which served as the manual in guiding their lives. One day when the leader
was crossing a timber bridge, he fell into the river. The followers were with
him but none of them knew what to do under the circumstances. So they consulted
the holy book.
"Help! Help!" the Master shouted, "I can't
swim."
"Please wait a while Master. Please don't get
drowned," they pleaded. "We are still searching in our holy book.
There must be instruction on what to do if you fell off from a wooden bridge
into a river."
While they were thus turning over the pages of the holy book
in order to find out the appropriate instruction, the teacher disappeared in
the water and drowned.
The important message of the story is that we should take
the enlightened approach and not slavishly follow outdated conservative ideas,
nor resort to any holy book without using our common sense. On the face of
changing circumstances, new discoveries, and knowledge, we must learn to adapt
ourselves accordingly, and respond to them by using them for the benefit of
everybody.
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