- It is true that unless the time is ripe, nothing comes to pass. A boy said to his mother before going to sleep, ‘Mother, please wake me up when I feel the call of nature.’ The mother said, ‘Son, its pressure will wake you up. I don’t have to wake you.’
- God has already decided what each one shall receive. A mother-in-law used to give a certain amount of rice to her daughters-in-law, measuring it with an earthen cup. The girls did not get enough rice. One day, to the great joy of the girls, the cup broke. The mother-in-law then said, ‘You may dance and shout, my children, but I can measure the amount very well with the palm of my hand.’
- One does not renounce till the time is ripe. When the fruit is ripe, the flower falls off by itself. One should not push and tug at a coconut when it is not ripe – that would injure the tree.
- A mother bird doesn’t peck the egg till the chick inside has developed. She breaks it open just at the right time. A little spiritual practice is necessary, however. Everything is done by the guru, but in the end he makes the disciple practice a little. When you fell a big tree, you have to step away from it a little when it is nearly cut through. Then it falls by itself with a great crash.
- When a canal is cut from a river to bring water to the fields, the farmer stands aside when the canal is about to join the river and only a little cutting remains. Then the earth itself gets soaked and falls of itself, letting the water flow into the canal.
- It’s good to hear – but nothing happens before the proper time. How can quinine help a patient who is running a high fever? It should be administered after the fever mixture has been given and the bowels have moved – when the fever has subsided. But, of course, some people are cured naturally; they get well even without taking quinine.
- Nothing happens before its time. Some people have to experience a lot of worldly enjoyment. So it happens late. If you cut open a boil before it’s ripe, the result is the opposite of what is good. When it is ripe and oozes pus, the doctor uses his knife. A child said to its mother, ‘Wake me up when I have to go to the toilet.’ His mother replied, ‘Child, you’ll know when you have to go. I won’t have to wake you up.’
- Nothing happens before its time. When the time comes for a disease to be cured, the physician says, ‘Grind this leaf with black pepper and take the powder.’ The patient recovers. Who knows whether it was the medicine with black pepper which cured the patient, or it was spontaneous?