" A young man once met a Zen Master and was so impressed that he decided to learn some meditation and live a life of contemplation all alone. " I shall give up everything" he declared. " Dont try anything that doesnt suit your personality, know yourself first", said the Zen Master. But the young man woudnt listen.
He went away to the forest nearby, built himself a small hut of bamboo and palm thatch and began leading a simple life of an ascetic. But soon, he found his hut swamped by rats. They tore away his clothes, gnawed through fruits and berries he gathered for food and even nibbled off patches from the mat he slept on. The young man decided that he must do something about it. So he got himself a cat to hunt the rats.
But cats cannot live on rats alone, they need milk and fish. So the young man went out into the nearest village and begged the people to give him a cow. He needed someone to milk the cow. So he hired a villager. Now he needed to pay the villager. So began spending, two hours every morning gathering berries and fruits from the forest to sell to the villagers. Next he needed a shed for the cow so he began spending five hours gathering fruits, herbs and firewood. He bought building materials, hired some villagers and got the shed built for his cow. His cow needed grass so he cleared out some space in the forest . watered it and turned it into a grazing ground for his cow. He also had to spend a couple of hours everyday taking the cow out to graze.
A year passed by and the old master came by to see how the young man was faring. The young man was so busy that he did not have any time for the master. " Sir , please wait. I shall be with you in an hour. I have to go fruit gathering ....take them to my shop in the village....i have to feed the cow and the cat.....and there are other things to do" The master was amused.
When finally the young man was free in the evening , the master said " i thought you were giving up everything. But you now seem busier than ever. And you possess a great many things - a hut, a shed , a meadow, a cow, a cat, pails for milk and water, baskets for fruit, knifes for weeding, haystacks, a shop in the village...."
The young man grew red in embarrassment. He recounted how it had all happened. The master laughed. "I told you son, it is not easy to give up. If you had not seen the rats as a problem in your life, you woudnt have needed the cat. It is all in the mind: not around you, but inside you. Giving up has to come from within. "
Now..! isnt that an awesome story ?? It is not easy even to give up is it...? Well at least not till we learn how to be at peace within.....coz things around us will always be the same...they will keep bothering us..and pushing us here and there...and we keep hitting one wall to another till we get exhausted...but the moment we learn how to be still and find peace from exactly where we are every moment...then these things around will only hit and bounce away...while we stand firm. And how do we find that balance ? probably just as how we first balanced on a bicycle...we try and we fall to the right and left over and over...then finally you find the balance and once you find it ...you never loose that balance all your life, whether or not you cycle everyday or never cycle again for the next 50 years..you will never fall off the bicycle again...right?...so that balance simply has to come out from us...no one can do it for you...you find it and you have it forever !...so JUST THE SAME.....we have to keep trying to find that balance in life....we might fall here and there a few times....but i am sure we will balance sooner or later...!!
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