The Honeybee and the Fly

The honeybee flies from one flower to the next, drinking only the sweetness and the essence of the nectar of that flower without disturbing the flower in the slightest, and then going to the next flower and drinking the nectar there. So, we have much to learn from the honeybee; it is teaching us the art of transcending the faults in others.

A honeybee looks for flowers even in a place full of garbage. Not paying attention to all the filth around, the honeybee rushes to even a small flower a midst the garbage and sucks the nectar from it. The qualification of a true spiritualist is that he or she has given up the propensity to find faults in others.

However bad, evil or crooked a man or woman may be in this world, a saintly person can always find something good in them. He magnifies that good quality hundreds and thousands of times, and simply flies over anything that does not provide him nectar, just like the honeybee.

We are living in an age when people are very quick to criticize, to find faults, to gossip, to relish rumors of others’ defects. But a saintly person knows, as Lord Jesus Christ has described in the Bible, “Seek and ye shallfind”, that if you look for the nectar, you will find the nectar. If you look for the faults, the flaws, the disgusting matter, then that is all you will see. For example, the moon is shining beautifully every night emanating volumes and volumes of cooling, soothing rays. Only a fool will look at the moon and condemn it for having so many spots. The honeybee is not concerned with the spots. The honeybee is only looking for the nectar.

So a saintly person should always look for the good in others. Even if there is just a tiny little spark of good in another, the saintly person wants to fan that spark and make it grow and grow until it blazes and devours all the bad qualities.

We can learn something from the fly too. In this world we can learn our lessons from both the good and the bad. The fly is not interested in the flower.

If your body is very healthy and you have one cut that is infected, the fly will zoom right in to eat your infectious pus. It doesn’t care about your healthy parts. It’s simply looking for the pus. This is the life of the fly.How many flies do you see drinking the nectar from flowers, and how many bees do we find eating the pus? So, one whose mentality is like that of a fly is always looking for the pus in others, always quick to find faults, to criticize, to condemn, to discuss obnoxious rumors.
– Radhanath Swami

By RNS Articles

Find him on Google+

29 comments

  1. Some of the best analogies have been penned down here by Radhanath swami. I am glad to have stumbled on this amazing article. Many thanks for sharing this …

  6. Seek and ye shallfind”, that if you look for the nectar, you will find the nectar. If you look for the faults, the flaws, the disgusting matter, then that is all you will see. Amazing lessons thank you very much

  7. Thankyou for sharing this Inspiring Article.The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.

  8. Beautiful & simple analogy used by Swamiji to explain complex human behaviour…..thanks

  9. Thank you very much Radhanath swami for this wonderful explanation of how to see only good in others.

  13. HH Radhanath Swami like the honey bee fans the good qualities in others and inspires them to become best of the human kind.

  19. Try to live like a bee and avoid the activities of a fly. Fantastic suggestion. All glories to HH Radhanatha Swami Maharaja.

  21. analogies make it easy and simple for one to understand the depth of the philosophy. Thank you Maharaj

  23. The example of the moon is very apt in this regard, only a fool would focus on the spots instead of the unlimited soothing cooling rays.

  24. thank you for showing us the way to behave like a honeybee and not like the fly.

  25. HH RNS Maharaj ki jaiho. Very important instruction for a devotee how to focus only on good qualities and acquire them in the holy association of saintly people who are full of these qualities. Thank u Maharaj.

  27. HH Radhanath Swami instructs very nicely in this article to pick up only the good qualities. This is only possible with the association of people with this quality.

  28. What we target that shows our inclination whether we want to be that nectar sucking honey bee or that pus sucking fly.

Comments are closed.