A story about contentment

Thus I have heard.....

Every evening, a powerful King rode to the edge of his realm, where the manicured gardens of the palace met the wild, untamed forest. And every evening, he saw the same man: a yogi, standing naked and radiant under a sprawling banyan tree. The man possessed nothing, yet he looked more like a monarch than the King himself.

Driven by a hunger for that same inner stillness, the King finally approached him. "Great soul," the King pleaded, bowing low. "Your peace is a light I wish to follow. Please, come to my palace and be my Guru."

To the King’s surprise, the yogi agreed instantly.

The Transformation

As they began the journey back to the capital, the yogi’s demeanor shifted. When they reached the first village, the yogi stopped. "Great King," he said smoothly, "it would be a scandal for your Guru to enter the gates naked. Give me your royal silk shawl to cover myself."

The King thought this a reasonable request and handed over the priceless fabric.

At the next town, the yogi stopped again. "It is unseemly for the Master to walk while the disciple rides," he noted. "Let us swap places." Though taken aback, the King dismounted and handed over the reins of his finest stallion.

By the time they reached the city center, the yogi was shouting to the crowds, "Make way for the Raja Guru!" The King, trailing behind on foot, felt a prickle of annoyance. Is this a holy man, he wondered, or just a clever charlatan?

The Golden Cage

For two years, the yogi lived in the palace. He slept on feathers, ate from gold plates, and wore the finest jewels. Yet, he was a brilliant advisor. His wisdom helped the King settle wars and feed the poor. He was a perfect Guru, save for one thing: his apparent love for luxury.

One afternoon, the King’s skepticism finally boiled over. "Master," he said hesitantly, "You live in a suite larger than mine. You eat more than I do. Tell me—what is the actual difference now between a yogi like you and a King like me?"

The yogi smiled. "I will show you this evening during our walk."

The Border of the Heart

They traveled to the very spot where they had first met—the border where the forest began. The yogi dismounted the horse and turned to the King.

Without a word, he untied the silk shawl and let it fall to the dirt. He stripped away the jewels and the fine tunics until he stood as he had two years prior: naked, beneath the banyan tree.

"Take your horse," the yogi said calmly. "Take your clothes and your gold. This doubt has lived in your heart since the day I first asked for your shawl. You believe that because I used these things, I was bound by them."

The King stood stunned, holding the discarded silks.

"Go back to your palace now," the yogi continued. "You cannot stay here with me, for your heart is tied to the stone walls and the heavy crown. I stayed in your palace and enjoyed your wine, yet I can walk into this forest this second and never look back. I was happy under this tree, I was happy in your halls, and I am happy here again. That is the difference: You possess your kingdom, but your kingdom also possesses you. I possess nothing, so I am free to have everything."

The King, realizing his folly, wept and begged the yogi to return.

"No," the Master replied gently. "My answer is complete. I shall remain here. If you ever find your crown too heavy, you know where to find me. I will be under the tree, exactly where I have always been."

THE ART OF GOVERNING THE TONGUE.

The mouth of a wise man is in his Heart, The heart of a fool is in his mouth.

Choose to listen rather than to talk.

For silence is preferable to speech.

It is wiser to talk toolittle than too much, and to speak well, than to say many things.

Aim at speaking to the purpose than often.

The following rules are helpful regarding the control of our tongue:

1. Reflect before speaking.

2. Know how to speak by silence.

3. Restrain the tongue when the heart is agitated.

4. Be silent, when you feel too great a desire to talk.

5. Speak after others.

6. Never against others.

7. Always speak well of others.

8. Try never to excuse yourself.

9. Speak always with modesty.

10. Never against Truth.

11. Always with discretion.

12. Never speak through Humour. Silence the biting word when the Heart is stirred and agitiated. Hold in, check the tendency to "pour ourselves out" in conversation when "the wind blows fair".

13. Restrain from talking about your wrongs. Such restraint creates a new fountain of the happiness.

14. Control the tone of the voice.

15. Never seek information through curiosity.

16. Mark it a point to complain of nothing, neither of persons, events, nor things.

17. Do not speak of yourself, nor of your personal affairs.

18. Say little of your works; less about your troubles. Confide these latter to very few persons.

Silence is the greatest lesson ever preached -

Silence under irritation - Silence under criticism - Silence when rebuffed - Silence under disappointment - Silence under ingratitude - Silence under jelousy of others - Silence under disloyality - Silence when self-pleased - Silence in sorrow of all kinds -

No practice seems of more value than Silence. It gives the impression of latent force. It wins confidence.It secures deference. A judicious reserve clothes a person with mystery often the most interesting aspect of personality.

Silence has also a positive quality. There are forbearances of speech that constitute most effective replies; which work perusation that a torrent of eloquence cannot accomplish. 

HAVE YOU TRIED THEM?

A LITTLE MORE PATIENCE, to bear up with this person with whom I am compelled to live, and who is not at all congeneial to me.

A LITTLE MORE FIRMNESS, to continue this work which duty demands and which is so repellent to me.

A LITTLE MORE HUMILITY, to remain at the post to which God has led me and which does not fit in at all with my dreams and plans.

A LITTLE MORE COMMON SENSE, to take people as they are, and not as I should like them to be.

A LITTLE MORE PRUDENCE, to bother as little as possible about others and their affairs.

A LITTLE MORE STRENGTH, to endure an event which so suddenly and profoundly disturbs my peace of Soul.

A LITTLE MORE CHEERFULNESS, so as not to show I have been hurt.

A LITTLE MORE UNSELFISHNESS, in trying to understand the thoughts and feelings of others.

ABOVE ALL, A LITTLE MORE PRAYER, to draw God to my Heart and to take counsel with Him.

WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!

LOVE

Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense

there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest love.

Love, without speaking and thinking of "I," knowing well that this

so-called "I" is a mere delusion.

Love, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do so means to

create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred.

Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth,

in the water or in the air.

Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who

Are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.

Love, embracing all beings, be they noble-minded or low-minded, good or

evil. The noble and the good are embraced because Love is flowing to them

spontaneously. The low-minded and evil-minded are included because they

are those who are most in need of Love. In many of them the seed of goodness

may have died merely because warmth was lacking for its growth, because it

perished from cold in a loveless world.

Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers

through this round of existence -- that we all are overcome by the same

law of suffering.

Love, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches and tortures, that

inflicts more wounds than it cures -- flaring up now, at the next moment

being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness and loneliness than was

felt before.

Rather, Love that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing beings,

Ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned with any response

it meets. Love that is comforting coolness to those who burn with the fire

of suffering and passion; that is life-giving warmth to those abandoned in

the cold desert of loneliness, to those who are shivering in the frost of

a loveless world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by

the repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.

Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows,

understands and is ready to help.

Love, that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest Love.

Love, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of the

heart," "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest Love.

And what is the highest manifestation of Love?

To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the path

pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One,

the Buddha.

Everything is Changeable

Life continually moves between extremes and contrasts: Rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain, honor and contempt, praise and blame................and we feel how our heart respond to all that happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, fear and hope. These mighty waves of emotion carry us up, fling us down and no sooner we find some rest, then we are carried by the power of a new wave again.

Little joy comes after many disappointments, failures and defeats. This is the nature of the world where we live with our intimate friends and the next day they become our enemies to harm us.

The world is an unending flux of becoming. Recurring rotation of coming into being and then passing out of existence. Every written word, every carved stone, every painted picture, the structure of civilization, every generation of man vanishes away like the leaves and flowers of forgotten summers.

"The body like a lump of foam;

The feelings like a water bubble;

Perception like a mirage;

Volitional activities like a plantain tree;

And Consciousness like a jugglery"

-Samyutta Nikaya.

Who is a Yogi?

To be a Yogi does not depend on one's creed, sex, dress, nationality, profession, status, education or on the fact whether he is a layman or a monk or whether or not he performs particular rituals. A person can be called a Yogi, in whatever position he is, if he is unruffled in any situation and is not proud of his success or sad about his reverses. He works without stress and strain with no attachment or murmering about the results. In other words, he performs his duty and accepts whatever comes in return with ease. He works as if he is acting in a drama, playing the given role without getting affected by the role he is playing. Such a person does not regret for whatever has happened in the past, nor does he dream for the future. He is fully immersed in the work that he is presently doing. He is simple, natural, egoless and pleasing to meet, with no showmanship or taboos. He is happy in every situation and has no planned way of life. He is an observer to whatever happens around himself. It is difficult to find such a Yogi, but to the extend that these elements are found in anybody, he is in the process of becoming a Yogi.