Question 193:
“Amma says: ‘If you put a frog into water and slowly heat it, enjoying the gradual warmth, the frog will not make any effort to escape, and eventually it will helplessly die.’
How do you understand this?”
Please make your answer brief and clear (maximum 5 or 6 lines).
It seems to me that what Amma means here is that if we start to indulge in worldly matters and pleasures, then slowly they will suck us in and at some point we won’t have the power to move away from them… First they will make us feel a bit happy, but later they will fully control us with no chance left for us to escape…
just like the frog which foolishly enjoys the warmth instead of escaping, we foolishly cling to fleeting pleasures of the world instead of escaping from the cycle of birth and death.
The mundane pleasures (desires) which seemingly provide the initial warmth, but later will prove to be fatal as one becomes caught up by greed even as AMMA says the trapped frog heated up in water dies eventually without making any effort.
That’s why Swami Vivekananda on Karma Yoga well pointed out: Devils or demons or blows of the world awaken us quickly than the pleasures of the heaven. It the misery that teaches more. Though this seems diabolical yet it’s truly practical.
Immersed in wordly desires from the day we are born we think it real and without realising our self, without knowing the fact that this is the birth where we can merge in GOD, we die like a helpless frog
All Vasanas or desires will dwindle into nothing.
When we first receive darshan from AMMA, that small drop of Her consciousness is activated, that drop of the ocean begins to heat within us. That initial warmth of pure unconditional love draws us closer to Her and we begin to be less interested in wordly qualities. As we focus more on Her and Her pure, serene, peaceful qualities the warmth of unconditional love increases within and begins to spread throughout the body,cells,mind and heart. We begin to relax as this occurs, no longer struggling, our worldly interests and qualities(vasanas) gently disolve and our faith and devotion towards Her increases and deepens. Then without even realizing it we find ourselves completely surrendered, submerged in LOVE.
At first when I read this thought of Amma on mother page..i understood it in the following way: if mind is put into the surrendered tapas ,longing,for amma,then it won’t jump here and there..eventually it will die..Amma also says that we should cry out to god and let the devotionfull tears take all the muddy dust,ego out..then only medicine should be applied on the wounded area otherwise it will get more infectious and septic.
I see this in two different ways; when referring to the world it is the negative experience of our souls forgetfulness and our turning to the pleasures of the world which eventually will sneak up on us and “kill” our divine rememberance or keep us trapped in Samsara. When referring to God’s or Amma’s Love it is the positive experience of our hints of awakening conciousness leading to a raging inferno of love for God and our eventual Liberation or “Death” of our little frog ego. So my conclusion…Become Amma’s Boiling Little Frog and Not The World’s. Jai Ma!!!
The frog is like our mind and the water like worldly comforts perhaps. At the beginning the comforts are not hurting us much, just a nice warm place to reside then we need more and more and they are causing us suffering, setting us up for our doom but our mind doesn’t notice it, we just keep enjoying what seems like a comfortable situation but we have imprisoned ourselves and don’t attempt to escape….until we are in too deep.
Explains how material pleasures and processions enslave us. It traps us slowly creating a illusion of comfort.
the comforts we think will all actually keep us away from the real and then it will also evade making us in a most discomfort position.in a way eating, sleeping and even lying down for a few hours (after seeing Amma) are conditioned “comforts” and it will slowly keep us away from the real.
dangers of attachment to worldly life
I think Amma’says about this world and life here.We are all living in this world like a frog in the kettle.we think we are happy in this world by enjoying the momentry warmth ( happiness) of lif. Bute. as life goes on we are getting in to a trap of harsh reality ( boiling water) by the time we realise that we are in a mess and no escape from the inevitable death. we think of god. But it is too late. so I think we have to be aware ofd our goal inb life>
The attraction of the worldly pleasure is such that we don’t really understand that it will lead us ultimately to sorrow. But the attraction of Maya is so powerful that we don’t really grasp “the heat” of it.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to share this humorous story: After Varahavataram (Lord Vishnu taking birth as a Pig), the Varaha got so much immersed in its life in the world that it enjoyed giving birth to piglets, feeding them with milk from its teats and joyously lying in the filth and slush. The devas got worried about the status of affairs of Lord Vishnu and complained to lord Shiva. Shiva appeared before the Varaha and tried to remind Vishnu of who he really was. But the Varaha replied “Why return to Vaikuntha? I am so happy here!”
Exasperated, Shiva threw his Trishul on the Varaha and killed it. Out from the body of the pig came Vishnu laughing sheepishly and then returned to Vaikuntha!
Its is Mahatma code for “we are all unaware of anything beyond the pettiness of of closed minds”. Its means we don’t look and see the realtive world and what lies beyond it, deeply enough.
Today, worldly attractions are so strong that it takes a formidable spiritual foundation to resist them, in the absence of which we, mere mortals that we are,succumb to them. In fact, like the frog, we even tend to identify these transient pleasures as the very goal of life. That leads away from the experience of real happiness!
when you are so into worldly life, it feels like heaven. we think that it is permanent. but we dont know that we are being eaten up by the fire of desires and temptations. only when we are burnt by the fire do we realise that and it would be too late.
so long as we are identified with the world and enjoy its seemingly pleasures, there is no real escape …
Given comforts added to our life; lethargy builds up in our system and start thinking this comfort is life. Learn the imperishable relation a body and soul; soul and supreme soul to come out of comforts thinking big to be with Supreme soul.
Frog can be compared to human life and warm water to Maya. We are all in Maya and enjoying it like the frog without knowing that we will die soon without realizing the truth. We are born in this world to realize our own self. But we forget it and lead a selfish materialistic life due to Maya.
The metaphor could be viewed through the perspective of the frog or ‘you’.
The frog represents vulnerability and unawareness.
The ‘you’ in this metaphor could represent the power of deception.
I understand the metaphor this way:
If ‘you’ use secrecy, deception and agendas, the consequence is that the frog is tricked and futhermore tricks itself into believing falseness.
Or ‘you’ conduct yourself in the light. Impart the truth. For the frog, it will at least know that it belongs in the lake and not in the slowly heating water of yours or its own deception.
@ lalimani
The Ultimate level of reality, the Abolsute, is not part of any dualities of happiness and sadness etc. Actually, “worldly attractions” can be a route to go Beyond – Tantra for example. There are no fixed, absolute rules for the Path each Perosn must tread to go Home. Sometimes we aviod them becuase we are afraid or have some kind of compelex about them. Also, as everything is God, we have to veiw all as expresions eminating from that Unconditioned, Unchagning Source. The relative world can be seen as the active expression of God – in playing out in an infinite dance – while we can know the Supreme Absolute in the deep and highest sate of Nirvakalpa Samadhi.
While I share the views of “aumsree” and “antonio”, I want to believe what “nameless” has written. I truly wish that to be true as I am immersed in worldly matters.
Unlike the frog in water which is getting slowly warm, one should have enough discriminatory Awareness as to what is good and what is harmful. Like Amma says; Our awareness should be like a sparrow or bird sitting on the extreme end of the branch of a tree during heavy wind. Should be ready to fly away no sooner the branch bends to dangerous level to the bird.
Thanks for the comments. I was able to understand the true import of Amma’s message after reading the comments.
I understand this as an illustration for life as lived by most.. We enjoy its play and numerous pleasures very convinced that this is all it can offer and indulge in its “warmth”. And this warmth turns out to be our entrapment and a main reason for our downfall as potential divine beings.. Is it not said that a human birth is extremely rare and difficult and that one should not miss this chance to propel oneself towards immortality?
yes, thank you all for the greatest reminder of all. who we truly are. like the sun blocked by the cloud. You are all the Light that burns it up to reveal again the Greater body and feeling nature of Truth.
I think our most beloved Amma wants to remind us to live in the world like a Lotus.The Lotus is very beautiful flower but it’s existence(Root)is in the dirty mud at the bottom of the water but raise above to the sun.And even though it take birth in the water and grows in the water and dies in water ,so unattached with water.Water can never touch it and never make it wet.So our most beloved Amma adivising us to live in the world like an unattached Lotus flower and not to become like a helpless frog whose end is like great a tragedy.The poor frog is so attached like me with worldly pleasures, and enjoying the momemtry pleasures of the world and never knows that behind of all these pleasures ,there is very very big Pain is going to come .O Amma!!!!please save me and bless me to escape.
Thanks for all comments especialy for Nameless and vardananda. I liked the comments very much.Our life is transcient. . It is not in our hands.It is like a drop of water in the edge of a flettering leaf of a Lotus.(“Nalini dalagata jala mati taralm tattvatjeevita atishaya capalam” Bhagavan Adi Sankra’s Bhjagovondam.verse-4)(.”Kampita patragralagnaambu binduval sampaticheedum ayyussati nashvaram”.Adhyatma Ramayanam,Vasishtopadesam).And for all living creatures a human birth is indeed rare;much more difficult it is to attain fullmanhood;rather than this is a sattwic attitude in life.So i think our most beloved Amma wish to say us that even after gaining such a golden oppurtunity ,we should not spoil our short period of life like the Frog in the story by enjoying the momentary pleasures of the impermmanent world.We should try to enjoy the permenent Anadam((happiness),Paramanandam,by knowing the Ultimate Truth(Bhagavan Adi Sankara also saying this in the famous text of Viveka Choodamani , the very first verse,)
“Jantunam narajanma durlabha mata:pustvam tato viprata—–“)
As an illustration for life.. Like the frog, we get engrossed in its many pleasures and distractions (the “warmth”) and forget that our main mission/dharma is to realize divinity. Is it not said that a human birth is a rare and precious opportunity and a chance to reach immortality?
The message of Amma from this article is very clear. We must stay away from the ” Comfort Zones “. Else we will be swept away or perished by maya of worldliness. May the Supreme Guru- Amma, protect and guide us in all aspects of our life.
This situation reminds us of total awareness which we should always upkeep in our daily lives. Amma always tells about this awareness. A frog if we put in hot water will jump immediately and escape whereas if we put it in cold water and then heat, it will die there unable to escape. This is a perfect example from which we should learn that Time is like a poisonous snake which will take ourselves when we are unaware of it. Develop Self awareness so that we will be able to face the adversities of life with calm and confidence.
The Frog represents ‘us’ and the water is the ‘worldly comforts and pleasures’
As long as we are blindly pursuing the worldly materialistic goals, we will simply languish and perish in those pursuits-and be as good as dead! We need to realize that in the worldly duties, we must also have spiritual goals – and only then can we understand the Divinity within us and be able to escape death!
To realize the Divine within us, we need to Awake & Arise to the Call of our GURU-AMMA who will lead us to light!
Definitely yes. Let us realize that the wordly pleasures for which we are running around are maya’s afflictions.
We can relate the scenario to the MAndukyA Upanishad’s essence- which describes the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.
Based on Amma’s saying, there are 2 point of understanding;
1. If we indulge into the worldly pleasures, we will not realize the suffering that we will face in near future (like the frog).
2. If we are able to comprehend and master the essence of Mandukya Upanishad, we can ward off all the mental and bodily pain. Thus the suffering in the current Maya will not cause grief and regretion, since we have known that death is not the full-stop of the spiritual journey.
We human beings are also like this frog engrossed in all worldly pleasures. May Amma give us all the awareness to know the truth, to know ourselves.
I am new at this. Bear with me. When a person tortures a animal with the intention of harm, this creates cause and effect. This is a choice of action that became permanent between the person to the animal. Due to the pain, a karmic debt has to be undone through the wheels of reincarnation. My heart cringes for the frog that didn’t feel it because of the person’s awareness or unawareness of their action. As human beings we are given the gift of discrimination from God…It is up to us to be respectful of all kingdoms in existence….
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