The Beggar...(inspirational)

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THE BEGGAR

 

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walk when he met a

beggar. He asked the beggar, ‘What do you want?’

 

The beggar laughed and said, ‘You are asking me as though you can fulfill my desire!’

 

The king was offended. He said, ‘Of course I can fulfill your desire. What is

it? Just tell me.’

 

And the beggar said, ‘Think twice before you promise anything.’

 

In fact, the beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the emporer’s past life

master. He had promised in that life, ‘I will come and try to wake you in

your next life. This life you have missed but I will come again.’

 

But the king had forgotten completely… who remembers past lives? So he

insisted, ‘I will fulfill anything you ask. I am a very powerful emperor,

what can you possibly desire that I can not give to you?’

 

The beggar said, ‘It is a very simple desire. You see this begging bowl? Can

you fill it with something?’

 

The emperor said, ‘Of course!’ He called one of his viziers and told him,

‘Fill this mans begging bowl with money.’ The vizier went and got some

money and poured it into the bowl, and it disappeared. And he poured more and

more, and the moment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the beggging

bowl remained always empty.

 

The whole palace gathered. By and by the rumour went throughout the whole

capital, and a huge crowd gathered. The prestige of the emperor was at stake.

He said to his viziers, ‘If the whole kingdom is lost, I am ready to lose it,

but I cannot be defeated by this beggar.’

 

Diamonds and pearls and emeralds, his treasuries were becoming empty. The

begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. Everything that was put into it….

everything immediately disappeared, went out of existence.

 

Finally it was the evening, and the people were standing there in utter

silence. The king dropped at the feet of the beggar and admitted his defeat. he

said, ‘Just tell me one thing. You have won.....but before you leave, just

fulfill my curiosity. What is the begging bowl made of?’

 

The beggar laughed and said, ‘It is made up of the human mind. There is no

secret. It is simple made up of human desire.’

 

This understanding truly transforms life!

 

Let us go into one desire…. what is the mechanism of it? First there is a

great excitement, great thrill, adventure….we feel a great kick! And then we

have the car, the house, the exotic holidays and then the yacht etc. etc.....

and suddenly all is meaningless again.

 

Why is that then....what happens? Our mind has de-materialised it. The car is

standing in the drive, but there is no excitement anymore. The excitement was

only in getting it. We became so drunk with the desire that we forgot our inner

nothingness. Now the desire is fulfilled, the car in the drive, the money in our

bank account….again excitement disappears. Soon the emptiness is there...and

again we go on to create another desire to escape this yawning abyss.

 

That is how one monkey mind moves from one desire to another!

That is how one remains a beggar. Our whole life proves it again and

again…..every desire frustrates.

 

The day we understand this......and the true meaning of putting a 'ceiling' on

desires.... will come the turning point in our lives.

 

As Baba always reminds us.....'Our ONLY journey is inwards and not outwards'!

 

 

 

 

Remain Blessed!

 

Duty is God, Work is Worship