A tale found on the web

[Guest guest]

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of

salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

 

"How does it taste?" the Master asked.

 

"Awful," spat the apprentice.

 

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another

handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to

the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt

into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."

 

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master

asked, "How does it taste?"

 

"Good!" remarked the apprentice.

 

"Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.

 

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and

said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount

of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount

we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when

you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense

of things ..... Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"

[Guest guest]

Nanda,

 

I really like this story. It is so true.

 

It sounds so trite to say that when we stop identifying with the

objects and experience of pain, that pain essentially disappears, but

it is so true. Not the mere practice of vairagya, but the reality of

it. If we could experience, if only for a moment, what it is like to

know ourselves only as God, what pain is there that could make us

forget our eternal bliss?

 

Jai Maa!

Chris

 

 

 

, "Nanda" <chandimaakijai> wrote:

> The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of

> salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

>

> "How does it taste?" the Master asked.

>

> "Awful," spat the apprentice.

>

> The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another

> handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to

> the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt

> into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."

>

> As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master

> asked, "How does it taste?"

>

> "Good!" remarked the apprentice.

>

> "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.

>

> The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and

> said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount

> of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount

> we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when

> you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense

> of things ..... Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"