An Indian Folklore
Once a man called Bhola lived in a village which was in a rocky, arid area. The village had been facing severe water scarcity for many many decades. Bhola had been trying to find a solution to this problem for quite some time.
One day a travelling party was crossing the village and the leader of the party came and asked for some water from Bhola. He asked them to wait and went to find enough water for the travelling party to drink.
In a little over half an hour Bhola and few other villagers were back on the spot, bringing two large jars filled with water.
The travellers quenched their thirst and perched their tents on the meadow in front of Bhola’s hut as evening had almost set in. They started cooking. The leader of the travelling party observed that people in the village had much difficulty in procuring water.
“Why don’t you dig a well?” asked the merchant.
“Ours is a rocky area. We have to dig deep for water to surface. We need a good amount of money at least fifty gold coins—to execute the project. But the villagers live from hand to mouth. Where can we find such a huge sum of money?” Bhola asked and then proceeded to give an account of his futile efforts in the direction of solving the problem.
He had been to meet the landlord. But he was aghast to find the old man bed-ridden with a prolonged ailment. The landlord told Bhola, “You are a good man, always trying to help everyone. I beg of you a favour. Will you promise to grant it?”
Bhola felt sad and amused at the same time. He had come to beg the landlord’s favour. What favour was the landlord seeking of him?
“Be pleased to tell me, Sir, what I can do for you!” Bhola muttered.
“Please pray to God so that His Grace takes me out of my predicament,” said the landlord in a feeble voice.
Bhola agreed to do so and, after speaking to the landlord some words of consolation, took leave of him.
After a few days Bhola walked all the way up to the capital to seek an appointment with the king. A courtier who knew Bhola told him, “The best time for obtaining the king’s favour is to make an appeal to him when he would come out of the shrine after offering his prayers to his deity. Generally he does not refuse anything to anybody at that auspicious moment.”
The courtier arranged for Bhola to stand outside the shrine, close to the entrance.
While standing there, Bhola heard the king praying in a murmur, “O Lord, you know very well how the neighbouring king has been a continuous threat to my position. Unless I conquer and annex his kingdom for good, I cannot be at peace. Grant me victory, grant me strength and also grant me the wealth necessary to pass through the ordeal of a war!”
Bhola quietly turned and crossed the gate of the shrine. The courtier who was waiting for him outside was surprised. “What happened? Why did you not wait for the king to come out?”
“I am not going to ask him for help,” said Bhola.
“Why?” asked the courtier.
“How can I beg from a beggar? He is himself begging for several things from God. Why should I not also ask God for what I want?” replied Bhola. He returned to his village.
The leader of the travelling party, whom Bhola narrated his chain of experiences, heard him with rapt attention. He bowed to him and placed an amount of a hundred coins before him and said: “Sir, I am a merchant. I had taken a vow to donate this much money for some noble cause if I succeeded in making a certain deal during this business trip of mine. I did succeed. I have no doubt in my mind that offering this to you would be the best fulfillment of my vow.” .
Both Bhola and the merchant wiped their tears of gratitude.
The story is a metaphor for our ordinary restless state of mind. Caught in endless desires, it has made us believe that we are helpless.
But the fact is there is a king living deep within all of us. The king is our true inner self. Only our inner self has the power to connect to the Universe and bring us the exact things we need for our individual and collective betterment. Once the king takes up full control of our fragmented being, we experience the Blissful Truth of Existence.
But before the real king comes out, our work is to make the palace, our outer self ready with silence and surrender.
We need to stop begging and call the king, who is waiting in our deepest heart, to occupy our whole being.