The Pretty Lady (inspirational)

[Guest guest]

THE PRETTY LADY

Once upon a time, a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They

came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade

across the river.

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross

the river. The big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on

his back. The lady accepted.

The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. "How can big disciple

brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?"

thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.

The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed

unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they

parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the

act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big

monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And

the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it

any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claim yourself

a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female,

especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big

hypocrite."

The big monk looked surprised and said, "I had put down the pretty lady at the

river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We

encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us

angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be

bitter or jealous. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go

away. We keep on carrying the baggage of the "pretty lady" with us. We let them

keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot

of agony. Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the

baggage of the "pretty lady".

We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river,

immediately after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove

all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event

after it is over. It is just that simple.

 

- Author Anonymous

 

With love & light,Madhvi Duty is God, Work is Worship

[Guest guest]

Hi Madhvi,

Never written on this forum before but I've been wanting to thank you for all

your inspirational messages for the longest time. They definitely do inspire

me first thing in the morning:)

Thank you and please keep on sending these lovely messages:)

Lots of loves,

Nikhita

[Guest guest]

Dearest sis Madhvi,

I feel as if this story is an answer to my prayer to Swami through you!

We have been having a lot of friction in the family due to the forthcoming

wedding and some elders in the family have been holding on to some old grudges

- I read this story out to them.

And after a lot of discussion, I think the message has finally reached home!

Thank you so much didi - you don't know how much you have helped!

lots of love,

Rina x