Dear Friends,
Namaste!
“I will wait for the remaining two princes to take their turn before I answer your question, O King,” said the Guru enigmatically, “If we are lucky, you will get your answer even before that.”
The King agreed and ordered for the fifth prince to be ushered in.
The fifth prince was duly told the “rules of the game” and asked to make his choice.
“Let me see,” he started reflecting aloud, “Wealth is important yet incidental. There’s more to life than money alone. Idols of deities – I consider them as crutches and I can walk on my own! Professional equipment will allow me to create wealth and prosperity but if maturity to use and enjoy it properly is lacking, it will only lead to abuse of the same. Then, instead of adding to overall happiness, it will only lead to sorrow. Hence I don’t think professional equipment will be my top priority either…”
“Interesting,” the Guru egged him on.
“Holy scriptures – well, they are quite useful for people who are confused. They must be showing the right way I presume. But I am not confused! I guess I know enough about Life and won’t get additional value from the books hence they cannot be my choice either.
“And that leaves me with only the deer skin, rosary, hand-rest – the set of things that will allow me to sit quietly, gather my thoughts and piece them together. Yes, I guess I have all the pieces of the jog-saw puzzle but they are not in order. I need time to now use those pieces and make a single, whole, meaningful, perfect picture out of them. Yes, I will go for that!”
“Ok dear,” assured the Guru. “Understood perfectly! Now, will you be so kind to take our leave and send in your remaining brother next?”
The fifth prince nodded and left.
The King looked questioningly at the Guru.
“Ever seen a cow?” the Guru obliged, “What does a cow do? Throughout the day, it will graze. The cow has a big appetite. There are predators roaming the fields. It has no time to eat and digest grass at the same time. It has to take big mouthfuls in as short a time as possible and then retire to a safe place. Once in a calm environment, it can chew the cud, it can ruminate, it can slowly assimilate all the good food that it has eaten over the day.
“Only when all the food eaten is properly regurgitated, will it become useful to the cow’s body. Not only will it nourish and sustain the cow’s body but also produce milk for the calves.”
“I see what you are saying,” said the King excitedly, “it’s not enough to eat. It’s important to digest! That probably is the answer to my question.”
“You are wise, O King,” said the Guru smilingly, “You have hit the nail on its head. This fifth son of yours is a person who is already self-actualised and has also acquired the Knowledge. He is Knowledgable. Now it is time to chew the cud – the grazing is over! He needs to now internalize the acquired knowledge.”
“Internalize the acquired knowledge?” repeated the King slowly, “I am confused. What is the difference between acquiring knowledge and internalizing it?”
“Good question. Knowledge acquisition takes place in our conscious mind. Internalization means integrating that knowledge with our sub-conscious and un-conscious.”
“That’s should be a cakewalk. Once you understand something, it must be very easy to make it a part and parcel of your living?”
“Anything but! For the power of our sub-conscious and un-conscious mind is far superior to that of conscious mind. If the conscious mind has earlier passed innumerable conflicting messages to sub and un-conscious minds, it takes the conscious mind tremendous effort to undo the damage.
“Till knowledge acquisition, we live in Relative Reality all our lives. Once you acquire the knowledge of Absolute Reality, it takes stupendous effort to unlock the sub and unconscious minds from the clutches of Relative Reality and establish them firmly in the Absolute Frame of Reference. In fact, this can be achieved only through ‘Raja Yoga’ which the last two limbs of Ashtanga Yoga – viz., ‘Dhyan’ (meditation) and ‘Samadhi’ (state of perfect bliss) facilitate. And ‘Raja Yoga’ supplemented by ‘Dhyan’ and ‘Samadhi’ is what I intend teaching this prince, O King.”
The King was simply awe-struck. He just nodded several times and gaped on.
A few minutes passed and the King came to himself.
“Only my last son is remaining. Coincidentally, my first five sons have exhausted all the five choices that this test contains. What will my last son choose? Will he repeat someone’s choice or will he choose something different?”
Let’s find out next week friends!
Enjoy…
No comments:
Post a Comment