7 stories that have helped/helping in my journey

Long post. Simple stories, but read at the right time offer us the possibility for profound insights.

Intensity of desire : A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him. "Master, I wish to become your disciple," said the man. "Why?" replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment. "Because I want to find God." The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke. "Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water”. "Air" answered the man. "Very well," said the master. "Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air."

Faith is the first stepping stone : Once upon a time there lived a scholar. All his life he has been in pursuit of the absolute. And determined to solve the puzzle he moved away from the crowds and started living on other side of the river bank. He led a disciplined life and was particular about his schedule. Everyday he woke up early in the morning, performed all the rituals and offered milk to God. Milk formed an important piece of the rituals he followed. The milk was brought to him by a milkmaid who lived across the river. There were times when the milk maid would arrive late and that disturbed his schedule. One day she arrived very late and the scholar was very upset. He enquired the milk maid reason for the delay. The milkmaid shared with him that she got delayed as she was serving her old parents who were dependent on her and by the time she managed to reach the place the first ferry had already left.  The scholar mocked her and said, "You are disrupting my schedule. Don't you know that I offer milk to the lord in the morning? Without that my rituals are incomplete. Why do you depend on that boat to cross the river? Just chant the name of God and you will be able to walk on water. The maid being very simple at heart and had faith in the words of the scholar. Next day, she repeated the name of god and just walked across the river! Unaware of this, our scholar mocked her again: "So, how did you manage to come on time today?" The milkmaid replied, "Sir, I repeated the name of God as you had instructed yesterday, and I could just walk across”. He did not believe her account. And said, "Let's now go to the bank of the river and you show me your walk across the river." The maid stepped into the river repeating the name of God, and she could just walk across! The scholar knew that he would not be able to do it, because he did not have faith in what he himself had said. In spite of all his knowledge, he did not have faith.

Knowledge and skill: A Pandit engaged a boatman to take him across a flooded river. When the journey started, he began a chatting with him. He wanted to show off his knowledge to the boatman. He asked the boatman whether he can read. The boatman replied that he did not have the opportunity to benefit from schooling therefore he cannot read, he said: “ A quarter of your life has gone waste”. And then he asked him whether he knows the planetary positions; the boatman said he did not have a clue. The pundit criticized and said: "Half your life has gone". His next question was did the boatman have any knowledge about the scriptures?. Once again the answer was no, the pundit stated that three quarters of the boatman's life has gone waste. Just then storm clouds gathered over their head and there was an looming threat of rain. The boatman turned to the pundit. It was his turn to put a question. He asked: "Can you swim?" and when the frightened Pandit confessed that he doesn’t know how to, the boatman said: "In that case, your entire life is wasted".

A bias towards action : A Zen master enquired a student Can you cook? The student replied “Yes. I have the knowledge and skill to easily cook for 100 people, but I have never tried.”

For testing times : Once upon a time there lived a great king who was respected by all his subjects because they were prospering under his honest & able rule. One night he woke up in middle of sleep disturbed by a loud crying sound of a lady. He also noticed that all his guards were in deep sleep unaware of the surroundings as if they were under a magical spell. He wanted to solve this mystery and walked up towards the sound to discover a beautiful lady all decorated up in finest jewelry and she was crying. The king offered salutations and spoke to her “Mother who are you? What is troubling you. Why are you crying?” And offered his help. The lady replied “O king I am the goddess of prosperity and I am crying because now time has come for me to leave you and your kingdom. You are such an honest man and I am troubled by thinking about all the difficulties you and your kingdom will face without prosperity”. The king replied “Mother I am fortunate that you have blessed me for so many years, now that if it is time that you should leave me, so be it. Do what must be done” and with that goddess of prosperity bid adieu to the king and vanished. Although troubled, the king went back to sleep, thinking that he will have to find a solution with his counsellors in the morning. After few minutes the king was woken up once again by the another crying sound and this time he discovered that it was goddess of fertility who was asking his permission to leave. On enquiry he discovered that she wanted to leave because her elder sister goddess of prosperity has left the kingdom and without her there was no meaning for goddess of fertility to stay in the kingdom. This cycle continued for another 5 times and one by one that night 7 goddesses of wealth representing, prosperity, fertility, good fortune, good health, knowledge, strength, and progeny all left after taking permission from the king. As it was almost nearing sunrise the king once again heard a lady’s cry and this time he discovered it was goddess of courage who was asking his permission to leave. For that the king replied “Mother it was because of you I have let go everything in life. I cannot give you my consent to go ahead. There is no life without you and I urge you not to leave me and my kingdom”. Hearing that the goddess agreed to stay back in the kingdom, with great relief he went back to sleep. After few minutes he heard tinkling sound of anklets and he realized that one by one all goddesses of wealth were returning back, he bowed down to them and enquired “Mother what happened” they replied “Son we reside where sister goddess courage resides, we are back to where she is”. And then they disappeared back into his palace.

Context Matters : Once upon a time, there was a monastery in Tibet. The monks in the monastery meditated from dawn to dusk. One day it so happened that a cat trespassed into the monastery and disturbed the monks. The head monk instructed that the cat be caught and tied to the banyan tree until dusk. He also advised that every day, to avoid hindrance during meditation, the cat be tied to the banyan tree. So it became a daily practice, a tradition in the monastery; To catch the cat & tie it to the banyan tree before the monks starts meditating. The cat remained tied to the banyan tree as the monks meditated. The tradition continued. One day the head monk died. As per tradition the senior most monk was chosen as head monk and all other traditions including tying the cat to the banyan tree was continued. One day the cat died. The whole monastery plunged into chaos. A committee was formed to find a solution and it was unanimously decided that a cat be bought from the nearby market and tied to the banyan tree before starting the meditation each day. This tradition is still followed in the monastery even today, unchallenged and unquestioned.

This too shall pass : A great king was on his death bed. He was hailed as the greatest by all including his enemies. His son who was to be the king after his father wanted to benefit from one last advice. The king shared with him the following story. When he was a young king he called upon his 7 wise counsellors and asked them for a simple mantra that works in every situation, circumstance, place and time. Be it joy, be it sorrow, or defeat or victory? The wise men thought and after a lengthy discussion, they agreed on a solution. They went to the king and presented him a ring and shared with him that when the king was in need, the ring will display a mantra which only the king can see. Sometime later, a neighboring king attacked the Kingdom. Despite his and his army’s bravery they lost the battle. The King had to flee the battle field on his horse. The enemies were following him. And, they were getting closer and closer. Suddenly the King found himself standing at the end of the road – followed by a gorge. The King became anxious and there seemed to be no escape. Then suddenly the ring flashed a message. The message was “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”. The king then thought it was just few days ago, I was surrounded by all worldly pleasures. I was the mightiest of all the men. Yet today, the Kingdom and all my pleasure have gone. I am here trying to escape from enemies. Like those days of luxuries have gone, this day of danger too will pass. A calm came on his face. He kept standing there. He relaxed and forgot about those following him. And after a few minutes he realized that the noise of the enemy horses receded. They moved into some other part of the mountains. The King reorganized his army and fought again. He defeated the enemy and regained his empire. When he returned to his Kingdom after the victory, he was received with great fanfare. The whole Kingdom was rejoicing in his victory. Flowers were being showered on him from every house and every corner. For a moment King said to himself. I am one of the bravest and greatest King. It is not easy to defeat me. Suddenly his ring flashed a message. THIS TOO SHALL PASS. He became aware and his went through a total transformation from an egoist he moved to a state of utter humbleness. 

Source: Collection of short stories from Indian oral tradition

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