The Cup of Life (inspirational)

[Guest guest]

THE CUP OF

LIFE

As

he was about to sip his tea, the disciple noticed a fly in his cup.

This was, of course, a minor occurrence. Living in an ashram surrounded

by the woods, such occurrences are but inevitable - a fly in the tea,

insects crawling all over one’s body, ants in the sugar bin, spiders in

the cupboard, even scorpions on the roof!

The

Master happened to see the disciple grimace. He leaned forward with

sympathy and consternation.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh,

nothing.” The disciple said. “It’s nothing - just a fly in my tea.” The

disciple managed a little smile to project acceptance and composure. “I

don’t want my Master to think that mere insects can disturb me…

certainly not after all these years of being with him,” the disciple

thought to himself.

“Oh, oh, a fly in the tea,” the Master said in a low

tone.

“It’s

no problem.” The disciple reiterated, smiling reassuringly at the

Master. But the Master, with concern written all over his face,

continued to focus on the cup. He rose from his chair, leaned over and dipped his

finger into the tea. With great care, he lifted out the offending fly

and then left the room.

A

while later, the Master returned, beaming. “He’s going to be all

right,” he said softly. He explained how he had placed the fly on the

leaf of a bush so his wings could dry. “He’s still alive and has

started flapping his wings… we can confidently expect him to take

flight soon…”

Then

the Master turned towards his disciple and said, “It wasn’t a question

of the tea, but the life of the fly. You can always make another cup of

tea, but the fly wouldn’t have got another moment to live… if we hadn’t

acted in time.”

To the disciple stunned at the Master’s compassion, the

Master said, “Use

things and love life… don’t love things and abuse life.”