JUDGEMENT

[Guest guest]

Dear Lovers of Chinna Katha in TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Here is one more Chinna Katha, a very interesting one taken from the

March month's monthly magazine " Ideas Exchange " . Enjoy!!!

 

Love and Love alone ....

 

P. Gopi Krishna.

 

JUDGEMENT

 

This story happened in the days of Lao Tzu in China and Lao Tzu

loved it very much.

 

There was an old man in a village, very poor, but even kings were

jealous of him because he had a beautiful white horse. Kings offered

fabulous prizes for the horse, but the main would say, " This horse

is not a horse to me, he is a person. And how can you sell a person,

a friend? " The man was poor, but he never sold the horse.

 

One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. The whole

village gathered and said, " You foolish old man! We knew that

someday the horse would be stolen. It would have been better to sell

it. What a misfortune! "

 

The old man said, " Don't go so far as to say that. Simply say that

the horse is not in the stable. This is the fact; everything else is

judgement. Whether it is a misfortune or a blessing, I don't know,

because this is just a fragment. Who knows what is going to follow

it? "

 

People laughed at the old man. They had always known he was a little

crazy. But after fifteen days, suddenly one night the horse

returned. He had not been stolen, he had escaped in to the wile. And

not only that he had brought a dozen wild horses with him.

 

Again the people gathered and they said, " Old man, you were right.

This was not a misfortune, it has indeed proved to be a blessing. "

 

The old man said, " Again you are going too far. Just say that the

horse is back ... who knows whether it is a blessing or not? " It is

only a fragment. You read a single word in a sentence -- how can you

judge the whole book? "

 

This time the people could not say much, but inside they knew that

he was wrong. Twelve beautiful horses had come.

 

The old man had an only son who started to train the horses. Just a

week later he fell from a horse and his legs were broken. The people

gathered again and again they judged. They said, " Again your proved

right! It was a misfortune. Your only son has lost the use of his

legs, and in your old age he was your only support. Now you are

poorer than ever. "

 

The old man said, " You are obsessed with judgement. Don't go that

far. Say only that my son has broken his legs. Life comes in

fragments and more is never given to you. "

 

It happened that after a few weeks the country went to war, and all

the young men of the town were forcibly taken for the military. Only

the old man's son was left because he was crippled. The whole town

was crying and weeping, because it was a losing fight and they knew

that most of the young people would never come back. They came to

the old man and they said, " You were right, old man -- this has

proved a blessing. May be your son is crippled, but he is still with

you. Our sons are gone forever. "

 

The old man said again, " You go on and on judging. Nobody knows!

Only say this, that your sons have been forced to enter the army and

my son has not been forced. But only God, the total, knows whether

it is a blessing or a misfortune. "

 

Judge not, otherwise you will never become one with the total. With

fragments you will be obsessed, with small things you will jump to

conclusions. Once you judge you have stopped growing judgement means

a stale state of mind. And mind always wants judgement, because to

be in a process is always hazardous and uncomfortable.

 

In fact, the journey never ends. One path ends, another begins; one

door closes, another opens. You reach a peak; a higher peak is

always there. God is an endless journey. Only those who are so

courageous that they don't bother about the goal but are content

with the journey, content to just live in the moment and grow into

it, only those are able to walk to the total.