A King had, as only son, a young Prince, brave, skillful
and intelligent. To perfect his knowledge of Life, he sent
him by the side of an Old Wise Man.
"Bring Light to my Path of Life", the Prince asked.
"My words will faint away like the prints of your steps in
the sand”, the Wise Man answered. However, I want to give you
some indications. On your Path, you will find 3 doors. Read
the rules written on each of them.
An irresistible need will urge you to follow them.
Don't try and get away from them, because you would be
condemned to live again, ceaselessly, what you have avoided.
I may tell you no more.
You have to feel all this deep in your heart and in your flesh.
Go, now. Follow this path, right in front of you. "
The Old Wise Man disappeared and the Prince entered
the Path of Life.
He was soon in front of a big door, on which one could read:
"CHANGE THE WORLD".
"It was my intention indeed”, the Prince thought, “because
if some things please me in this world, others greatly displease
me."
And he began his first fight. His ideal, his ardour and his
power urged him to confront himself to the world, to undertake,
to conquer, to model reality according to his desires.
He found there the pleasure and the dizzyness of the conqueror,
but no peace in his heart. He managed to change some things but
many others resisted to him. Many years passed.
One day, he met the Old Wise Man who asked him:
"What have you learnt on your path?"
"I have learnt," the Prince answered, “ how to discern what
is within my power and what is without, what depends on me and
what does not depend on me".
"That's good!”, the Old Man said. “Use your strength to act
on what is within your power. Forget what's beyond your power."
And he disappeared.
A bit later, the Prince was in front of a second door.
He could read on it :
"CHANGE THE OTHERS".
"It was my intention indeed”, he thought. “The others are
a source of pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction, but also,
of pain, bitterness and frustration."
And he rebelled against everything that could disturb him
or displease him in his fellow men. He tried to bend their
characters and to extirpate their defects.
It was there his second fight.
Many years passed.
One day, as he was meditating on the utility of the attempts
to change the others, he met the Old Wise Man who asked him:
"What have you learnt on your path?"
"I have learnt”, the Prince answered, “that the others are not
the cause or the source of my joys and my punishments, my
satisfactions and my setbacks. They are only opportunities
for all of them to be revealed.
It is in myself that all these things have their roots."
"You are right,” the Wise Man said. “According to what they
wake up in you, the others reveal you to yourself. Be grateful
to those who make your enjoyment and pleasure vibrate.
But be also grateful to those who create in you suffering or
frustration, because, through them, life teaches you what
is left in you to learn and the path that you still have
to walk."
And the Old Man disappeared.
A bit further, the Prince arrived in front of a door, on
which these words were written:
"CHANGE YOURSELF".
"If I am myself the cause of my problems, it is indeed what's
left in me to work on", he said to himself.
And he began his 3rd fight. He tried to bend his character,
to fight his imperfections, to abolish his defects, to change
everything that did not please him in himself, everything that
did not correspond to his ideal.
After many years of this fight, in which he met some success,
but also, some failures and some resistances, the Prince met the
Wise Man who asked him:
“What have you learnt on your path?"
"I have learnt”, the Prince answered, ”that there are things
that we can improve, others that resist to us and that we can't
manage to break."
"That's good!" the Wise Man said.
"Yes”, the Prince went on, ”but I am beginning to be tired
of fighting against everything, against everybody, against
myself. Won't there be an end to it one day? When shall I
find a rest? I want to stop fighting, to give up, to
abandon everything, I want to let go !"
"It is precisely your next lesson“, the Old Wise Man said.
“But before going any further, turn round and behold the path
covered."
And he disappeared.
On looking back, the Prince saw in the distance the 3rd door,
and noticed that it was carrying a text on its back, saying :
"ACCEPT YOURSELF."
The Prince was surprised not to have seen this writing when
he went through the door, the other way.
"When one fights, one becomes blind”, he said to himself.
He also saw, lying on the ground, scattered around him,
everything he had thrown away and fought against in him:
his defects, his shadows, his fears, his limits, all his
old worries. He had learnt then how to recognize them, to
accept them, to love them. He had learnt how to love himself
without comparing himself to the others any more, without
judging himself, without reprimanding himself.
He met the Old Wise Man who asked him:
"What have you learnt on your path?"
"I have learnt”, the Prince answered,” that hating or refusing
a part of myself, it is to condemn myself never to be in
agreement with myself. I learnt how to accept myself, totally,
unconditionally."
"That's good!”, the Old Man said, it is the first rule in
Wisdom. Now you can go back through the 3rd door."
He had no sooner reached the other side, that the Prince
perceived far away the back side of the second door, on which
he could read:
"ACCEPT THE OTHERS".
All around him, he could recognize the persons he had been
with all his life through; those he had loved as well as those
he had hated. Those he had supported and those he had fought.
But the biggest surprise of all for him was that now, he was
absolutely unable to see their imperfections, their defects,
what formerly had embarrassed him so much, and against which
he had fought.
He met the Old Wise Man again.
"What have you learnt on your path?" he asked him.
“I have learnt”, the Prince answered, “that by being in
agreement with myself, I had no more anything to blame in the
others, no more anything to be afraid of in them. I have
learnt how to accept and to love the others, totally,
unconditionally."
"That's good!", the Old Wise Man said. “It is the second
rule in Wisdom. You can go back through the second door.”
On reaching the other side of the second door, the Prince
perceived in the distance the back side of the first door,
on which he could read:
"ACCEPT THE WORLD".
“Strangely enough”, he said to himself, “that I did not see
these words on the first time”. He looked all around him and
recognized this world which he had tried to conquer, to
transform, to change. He was struck by the brightness and
the beauty of every thing. By their perfection.
Nevertheless, it was the same world as before. Was it
the world which had changed or the glance he had on it?
He met the Old Wise Man who asked him:
"What have you learnt on your path?"
"I have learnt”, the Prince said, that the world is a mirror
for my soul. That my soul can't see the world, it sees itself
in the world. When my soul is cheerful, the world seems cheerful
to it.
When it is overcome, the world seems sad to it. The world
itself is neither sad nor cheerful. It IS there; it exists; it
is everything. It was Not the world that disturbed me, but the
idea that I had of it. I have learnt to accept it without
judging it, to accept it totally, unconditionally. "
“It is 3rd rule of Wisdom”, the Old Man said.
“You are here now in agreement with yourself, with the others
and with the World.”
A profound feeling of peace, serenity, plenitude, filled
the Prince. Silence was in him.
"Now, you are ready to go past the last Threshold”, the
Old Wise Man said, “the one that goes from the silence of
Plenitude to the Plenitude of Silence ".
And the Old Man disappeared.
- Author Unknown
Posted by Priya Deelchand
www.facebook.com/priyadeelchand1
No comments:
Post a Comment