6 May 2009 —
Question
Q117: Tortoise or Hare?
Question 117:
“For you, who would win the race between a tortoise/turtle and a hare/rabbit? (The classical story) Why? ”
Please think well before you answer, and please make your answer brief (maximum 5 or 6 lines) and clear.
The race is between “Lazy Intelligence With Swift and Overconfident Attitude” (Hare/Rabbit)and “Sincere and Slow Effort with Confidence and Humility” (Tortoise / Turtle). Naturally, AMMA graces favours the sincere and takes one to the Goal. The story goes with the moral if you are sincere and swift with intelligence you can be the most successful.
slow and steady wins the race. who so ever has AMMA’s grace
The turtle would win because as we should spiritually he always has his mind focused on the goal while the rabbit was distracted by ego and other things along the way.
Sincere prayer with goal naturally wins.AMMA always with us .
TORTOISE.
As Amma says:
-even though we may think we are not progressing actually we are moving forward , but you should not stop in the middle.
-even if you think, no impact is made by you or your spiritual practices you do, in effect it does. Just like, even if a turtle crawls slowly, even that will create a small trail behind it if you look properly.
-it pulls all it’s limbs inwards when a danger is near,similar to a real spiritual aspirant should pull his senses inwards in a difficult environment to be safe.
So by all these qualities of a turtle it will pass all the dangers on the way and will win,the qualities a real spiritual seeker should have.Only it matters whether he strives,even though moving slowly.
In that classical story the tortoise only won.But as far as my oppinion is concern the hare aslo can win.The only problem with Hare was ego (I ness)ie iam something great feeling and underestimate others. And if the hare was alert he might have win. Otherwise hare is very quote and fast. i like fastness.Slow motion is boring. But should be perfect and should have an attitude of humbleness in each and every actions.Obviously tortoise has a good quality of silence and can also able to withdraw its sense organse when it is known that it is in danger.I like to accept this quality of the tortoise as a moral.We should aslo have the capability to withdraw of the organse of perceptions and actions to some extend whenever we need.
As per the classical story the rabbit had natural ability to run faster, but mentally he did not give priority to his goal and lost the race, whereas the turtle was focused on his goal and won the race. We have to be like the turtle to reach our ultimate goal of Self realization – start the sadhana and do not stop until we reach our goal. And with Amma’s Grace it can be possible.
The Hare couldn’t win the race because of his ego; otherwise the tortoise would have never beaten him. And the positive attitude of tortoise is appreciable-i.e. NEVER GIVE UP. But it doesn’t mean that the tortoise was also free from ego. The What I can understand from the story is that where there is ego there will be failure and where there is absence of ego there will be VICTORY. And when we try to achieve a state where there is no ego, we should NEVER GIVE UP.
The tortoise won with the steadiness of purpose he had in not giving up until the goal was reached. The hare won a wealth of experience on the pitfalls of pride. In our life we behave many times like the hare and hopefully sometimes like the turtle. We win both times with experiences that help us move forward. Sometimes the blow to the ego is hard but needed while sometimes encouragement on our efforts boosts our faith and confidence.
In the classical story the tortoise won. But in reality, who is to say? Sometimes in life we are the hare and then at other times, we are the tortoise. For me, the only thing that remains unchanged is that nothing is possible without the grace of Amma. Even if in our mind we think we can complete a task, it can only materialise if God (Amma) grants blessings. I think if the tortoise and hare knew Amma at their time, they would not have wasted their time racing but instead utilised that time, enjoying Amma’s darshan! 🙂
there is nothing like a ” Race ” In spiritual path. every body is rabbit/hare and tortoise/turtle at different times. some turtles are faster than other turtles and some rabbits are slower than other rabbits.
Enjoy the ” RACE “! That’s the whole point i guess…
Hare/Rabbit is symbolicaly ruled by its ego, and when ruled by ego, would not reach to the destination. Cast off the ego and win the race
like the tortoise.
tortoise. Constant determination will get you to your goal eventually.
This is a lesson that we should use the positivity that we have in us to win the race towards spiritual progress. when we look around nobody is too big to beat and nobody is too small to be ignored.
i support the tortoise even though it is slow it reached its destination slow and steady. Like tortoise i also want to reach my destination (God) without fail.
Either could win – depending on who opts for the grace. It is the same as the Mahabharata war. 5+1 against a whole army-1. Spiritually, the ‘race’ is different. We may fall and die anytime. so I have to move with the impatience of someone whose head has been held under water for a while. But it is not a race. I am in it alone with god.
The race is an illusion. We all are moving at varying speeds toward our ultimate destination, God’s Sacred Heart, in this life or the next. The symbology of the tortoise, moving, slow, determined, and focused, reached his destination, while the hare distracted with ego did not. Perhaps in the hare’s next life he/she will. The tortoise, despite physical limitations, NEVER GAVE UP.
I think they would both win, no matter who crossed the finish line first. Each of them would walk away with an important experience, lessons and perhaps a new friend.