• Into the Honeymoon
• The Celebrated One Described
• Silence Can Tell Much Too

Into the Honeymoon

After a whirlwind courtship, the loving couple had eloped and married. After a few days of the honeymoon, the fact came out that the wife was a snake-charmer. Slightly appalled, the husband said in reproachful astonishment, "How is it that you never told me you were a snake-charmer?"

Said his wife, "You never asked me."

(Fuller 1970, 155)

The Celebrated One Described

A Cambridge lecturer on the history of chemistry thus describe the celebrated Robert Boyle: "He was a great man, a very strong man; he was the father of modern chemistry, and brother of the Earl of Cork."

(Fuller 1970, 192)

Silence Can Tell Much Too

A man had two sons. The father sent them to a preceptor to learn. After a few years they returned from their preceptor's house and bowed low before their father. Wanting to measure the depth of their knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the older of the two boys. "My child," he said "you have studied the three scriptures. Now, tell me, how is Brahman?"

The boy began to explain Brahman by reciting various text passages. The father did not say anything.

Then he asked the younger son the same question. But the boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down. He said nothing.

The father was pleased: "My child, you have understood that what It is cannot be expressed in words." (Ramakrishna 1986, No. 120, modified)

◎ Don't try this approach during all sorts of exams. The everyday world is to be tackled well enough, no matter how unreal it is called by some at times.