There are two aspects to a thing of this kind. One is your judgment in the field of action, and the other is your judgment as a metaphysical observer. You can’t say there shouldn’t be poisonous serpents-that’s the way life is. But in the field of action, if you see a poisonous serpent about to bite somebody, you kill it. That’s not saying no to the serpent, that’s saying no to that situation.

There’s a wonderful verse in the Rig Veda that says, “On the tree”-that’s the tree of life, the tree of your own life-“there are two birds, fast friends. One eats the fruit of the tree, and the other, not eating, watches.” Now, the one eating the fruit of the tree is killing the fruit. Life lives on life, that’s what it’s all about.

A little myth from India tells the story of the great god Shiva, the lord whose dance is the universe. He had as his consort the goddess Parvathi, daughter of the mountain king. A monster came to him and said, “I want your wife as my mistress.” Shiva was indignant, so he simply opened his third eye, and lightning bolts struck the earth, there was smoke and fire, and when the smoke cleared, there was another monster, lean, with hair like the hair of a lion flying to the four directions. The first monster saw that the lean monster was about to eat him up. Now, what do you do when you’re in a situation like that? Traditional advice says to throw yourself on the mercy of the deity. So the monster said, “Shiva, I throw myself on your mercy.” Now, there are rules for this god game. When someone

throws himself on your mercy, then you yield mercy. So Shiva said, “I yield my mercy. Lean monster, don’t eat him.”

“Well,” said the lean monster, “what do I do? I’m hungry.

You made me hungry, to eat this guy up.” “Well,” said Shiva, “eat yourself.” So the lean monster started on his feet and came chomping up, chomping up-this is an image of life living on life.

nothing left of the lean monster but a face. Shiva looked at the face and said, I have never seen a greater demonstration of what life is all about this.I will call you Kirtimukha-face of glory.” And you will see that mask, that face of glory, at the portals to Shiva shrines and also to Buddha shrines. Shiva said to the face, “He who will not bow to you is unworthy to come to me.” You’ve got to say yes to this miracle of life as it is, not on the condition that it follows your rules. Otherwise, you’ll never get through to the metaphysical dimension.