The circle of desire

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought, “I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought, "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Suddenly he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and labourers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought, "I wish that I could be the cloud!"

...And he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought, "I wish that I could be the wind!"

He became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it ....it was a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be that rock!"

He became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.....And when he looked down, he saw the figure of a stone cutter hammering on the rock...!

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, this is what goes on happening in the minds of most of us. We long for something, but when it happens we still find that we are discontent. Now something else is creating the misery ….this goes on and on, like waves in the ocean… never ending ….unless we develop the understanding and simply jump out of this vicious circle. 

When the happiness has a condition to it, one will always remain unhappy. Bliss is our natural state; it is not an achievement. If we simply get out of the mechanism of the mind, we start feeling blissful.

Friends, one should learn to remain more and more in contact with the present. When present arises with its grandeur and its beauty, everything pales down and Renunciation starts following the Awareness like a shadow….!

Let us all Live each Moment with Awareness!