One day I (Swami Akhandananda) visited the Master and had prasad at the temple. A group of lay devotees came after his noon rest, and I spread a mat for them on the floor. One of them asked the Master, “Sir, is it good that these young boys come to you to embrace the monastic life, disregarding the householder’s life?” The Master replied: “Look, you only see their present life, and not their previous lives in which they passed through these other stages. For instance, a man has four sons. One of them, having grown up, says: ‘I shall not put oil on my body or eat fish. I shall eat only self-cooked vegetarian food.’ The parents try to dissuade him from these habits and even threaten him, but the boy will not give up the path of renunciation. Yet the other three sons are set on enjoyment and swallow whatever they get. Look, it is because of the preponderance of sattva that this boy wants to renounce everything before he reaches manhood.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
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