An emperor was coming out of his palace for
his morning walk when he met a beggar.
He asked the beggar, "What do you want?"
The beggar laughed and said, "You are asking me
as though you can fulfill my desire!"
The king was offended. He said, "Of course
I can fulfill your desire. What is it?
Just tell me."
And the beggar said, "Think twice before
you promise anything."
The beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the
emperors past life master.
He had promised in that life, "I will come and
try to wake you in your next life.
This life you have missed but I will come again.
" But the king had forgotten completely --
who remembers past lives? So he insisted,
"I will fulfill anything you ask.
I am a very powerful emperor,
what can you possibly desire that
I cannot give to you?"
The beggar said, "It is a very simple desire.
You see this begging bowl? Can you fill it
with something?"
The emperor said, "Of course!" He called one of his
viziers and told him, "Fill this man's begging bowl
with money." The vizier went and got some money
and poured it into the bowl, and it disappeared.
And he poured more and more, and the moment
he would pour it, it would disappear.
And the begging bowl remained always empty.
The whole palace gathered.
By and by the rumor went throughout the
whole capital, and a huge crowd gathered.
The prestige of the emperor was at stake.
He said to his viziers, "If the whole kingdom is lost,
I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated
by this beggar."
Diamonds and pearls and emeralds,
his treasuries were becoming empty.
The begging bowl seemed to be bottomless.
Everything that was put into it --
everything! -- immediately disappeared,
went out of existence.
Finally it was the evening, and the people
were standing there in utter silence.
The king dropped at the feet of the beggar
and admitted his defeat.
he said, "Just tell me one thing.
You are victorious but before you leave,
just fulfill my curiosity.
What is the begging bowl made of?"
The beggar laughed and said, "It is made up
of the human mind. There is no secret.
It is simple made up of human desire."
This understanding transforms life.
Go into one desire ------
what is the mechanism of it?
First there is a great excitement, great thrill,
adventure. you feel a great kick.
Something is going to happen, you are on the
verge of it. And then you have the car,
you have the yacht, you have the house,
you have the woman, and suddenly all is
meaningless again.
What happens? Your mind has dematerialized it.
The car is standing in the drive, but there is
no excitement anymore.
The excitement was only in getting it.
You became so drunk with the desire than
you forgot your inner nothingness.
Now the desire is fulfilled, the car in the drive, the money in your
bank account - again excitement disappears.
Again the emptiness is there, ready to eat you up.
Again you have to create another desire to
escape this yawning abyss.
That's how one moves from one desire to
another desire.
That's how one remains a beggar.
Your whole life proves it again and again --
every desire frustrates.
And when the goal is achieved, you will
need another desire.
The day you understand that desire as
such is going to fail comes the turning point
in your life.
The other journey is inwards. move inwards,
come back home
