புட்டு குழல்
Puttu kulal (puttu maker)
Content note: appropriation, excrement, unethical non-monogamy
A king was taught by his guru the sacred nondualist doctrine of Advaita, which declares that the whole universe is Brahman. For selfish reasons, the king was very pleased with this doctrine, saying to his queen, "As there is no distinction between the queen and the queen's maidservant, the maid is also my queen, and I shall bed her." The queen was appalled by this proposal and sent for the guru and implored, "Sir, look at the wicked result of your teachings," and told him what had occurred. The guru consoled the queen, saying, "At dinner, serve the king a potful of cow dung along with the dish of puttu." The guru and the king sat down together to eat when dinner was served, but the king was enraged when he saw that the meal included a pot of cow dung. The guru, seeing this, calmly asked, "Your Highness, you have studied Advaita; why then do you perceive any distinction between the dung and the rice?" Exasperated, the king exclaimed, "If you truly understand Advaita, eat this dung yourself if you can!" The guru replied, "Very well," and at once changed himself to a swine, devoured the dung with gusto, and reassumed his human shape. The king was so ashamed that he never again made this proposal to his queen.
Clinicians and scholars who adopt anti-racist and -ableist approaches: do not be a self-serving hypocrite. If you believe they can be applied selectively, then you fundamentally misunderstand them (Sri Ramakrishna, 1974, pp. 315-16).