CONDITIONED STATE – STORY
In previous times, the grahasthas were habituated to asking if anyone was hungry before taking their meals.
One grahastha – who is a flower seller – went outside and called out to see if anyone was hungry.
He saw a fisherman.
He said, “Have you taken your meal?”
The fisherman said “No,”
So he took him inside.
Then he said, “Please leave the fish basket outside. It is too smelly.”
After he fed him he asked the fisherman, “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”
He said, “No.”
He allowed him to sleep there.
About one or two o’clock in the morning the grahastha had to get up to answer nature’s call.
When he looked to see how the guest was doing, he found him tossing and turning.
He asked, “How are you sleeping?”
The fisherman replied, “My sleep is very disturbed. I cannot get to sleep!”
“Why is this? What is the difficulty?” the grahasta asked.
And the fisherman said, “You have so much flowers in the house and the flower smell is disturbing me. The difficulty is that I cannot sleep without my fish basket. I am used to the smell. Without smelling that fish basket, I cannot go to sleep.”
So then he said:
“All right, bring your basket, and you can go to sleep.”
Then the fisherman slept soundly.
MORAL:
Even though the flower smell’s good – the person who is used to fish smell cannot stand it – it is a typical example of conditioning in the material world.
People got so much used to the bad habits and they cannot live without them.
(PLEASING EVERYONE – STORY – READ HERE)