Story........... The River and the Lake

[Guest guest]

Philosophy becomes more interesting through stories.

Hence a few coming up..................jay

 

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One day there was a debate between the river and the lake.

 

The lake taunted the river, " You are a fool, all your life you keep

emptying your sweet drinking water into the sea, nothing is ever

achieved, the sea continues to be salty despite you supplying

all your sweet water.... Why bother? Look at me, I do not do anything.

I do not give anything to the sea but live happily holding on to my

sweet water. You will soon be empty..... "

 

Despite the warning the river continued to flow into the sea, it never

became empty as the water that went in the sea turned into steam

and rained over the mountains which kept the river supplied

with fresh water. The lake on the other hand began to dry up and

became shallow and muddy and gave out a stench.

 

The story illustrates the Vedantic teaching on action (karma).

If like the lake we try and work out what good is our action, we

will never do any work. Like the river our role should be to work,

continuing to supply fresh water. Where it goes and what result it

produces is not our concern. Constant action is the great purifier,

else we become shallow and stink : (