An Odia Folktale
Once lived a very poor plumber in a town in India. One day he was assigned to repair the toilet of the queen of that town. While he was finishing up his work and leaving, he somehow saw a glimpse of the queen’s thigh. It was smooth as silk, fair and soft as a lump of fresh cream.
With just one glimpse of it the plumber was infatuated with the queen. He began to imagine how beautiful the rest of her might be. He was so obsessed with her he could neither eat nor sleep. When his mother asked him what the matter was, he confessed of his obsession. He wanted the queen for himself.
The mother was shocked and tried to distract him by saying that he was a mere plumber and ordinary people like him do not even get a glimpse of the queen.
But his thoughts went round and round the same thing and he was all absorbed in those thoughts of the queen. He began to act crazy – didn’t change his clothes, didn’t eat or sleep and finally left home and became a wanderer.
One day, when he was sitting under a banyan tree in a meditative state some villagers gathered around him. They had seen him sitting like this for days, without food or sleep, without a word or even a movement.
It fitted their idea of a sage. They brought him offerings, food, clothes but he was indifferent to them.
Within a month he became a celebrity, and his fame spread all over the country. But he remained indifferent. The queen too heard about him and came to visit him with her retinue. But he didn’t even look at her. He remained indifferent.
So intense was the plumber’s desire that it had moved him to a state where he had no desire at all.
Journey towards self evolution can begin even with lust. We all are on a journey of “becoming” – becoming our evolved self. It is not possible for us to judge or decide the journey of our becoming. We do not know the Whole plan of the Universe.
The story of the plumber did begin with a lustful attraction but that took him to a state of complete surrender. He had intensified his attention towards the queen so much that doubt had no place in it. That was enough to bring him freedom from his desire.
When we put our effort into surrendering to the grand Universal Energy, we gradually release ourselves from our compelling judgemental mind. When we know each moment is happening exactly the way it was supposed to happen and the meaning of the moment is the chance for us to become conscious of a greater plan in play, we get the first taste of freedom. This freedom is not the “rickety freedom” that comes by gratifying our small ego, rather it is the firm feeling of expansion that comes by knowing our place in the Eternity of Time and Space.