Weekend Lecture

Desire

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 emperor's 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 can not 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 mans 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 that you
forgot your inner nothingness. Now the desire is fulfilled, the car
in the drive, the woman in your bed, 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.

Meditate on this story and and use properly the power of your mind!

Namaste.