Author Topic: THE ILLUSION OF REFLECTION (Read 768 times)

Sardar_Ji · « **on:** December 26, 2010, 03:56:56 PM »

THE ILLUSION OF REFLECTION

Once there was a king who had presented his daughter, the princess,
with a beautiful diamond necklace. The necklace was stolen and his
people in the kingdom searched everywhere but could not find it. Some
said a bird might have stolen it. The king then asked them all to
search for it and put a reward for $50,000 for anyone who found it.

One day a clerk was walking home along a river next to an industrial
area. This river was completely polluted, filthy and smelly. As he
was walking, the clerk saw a shimmering in the river and when he
looked, he saw the diamond necklace. He decided to try and catch it
so that he could get the $50,000 reward. He put his hand in the
filthy, dirty river and grabbed at the necklace, but some how missed
it and didn't catch it. He took his hand out and looked again and the
necklace was still there. He tried again, this time he walked in the
river and dirtied his pants in the filthy river and put his whole arm
in to catch the necklace. But strangely, he still missed the
necklace! He came out and started walking away, feeling depressed.

Then again he saw the necklace, right there. This time he was
determined to get it, no matter what. He decided to plunge into the
river, although it was a disgusting thing to do as the river was
polluted, and his whole body would become filthy. He plunged in, and
searched everywhere for the necklace and yet he failed. This time he
was really bewildered and came out feeling very depressed that he
could not get the necklace that would get him $50,000.

Just then a saint who was walking by, saw him, and asked him what was
the matter. The clerk didn't want to share the secret with the saint,
thinking the saint might take the necklace for himself, so he refused
to tell the saint anything. But the saint could see this man was
troubled and being compassionate, again asked the clerk to tell him
the problem and promised that he would not tell anyone about it. The
clerk mustered some courage and decided to put some faith in the
saint. He told the saint about the necklace and how he tried and
tried to catch it, but kept failing. The saint then told him that
perhaps he should try looking upward, toward the branches of the
tree, instead of in the filthy river. The clerk looked up and true
enough, the necklace was dangling on the branch of a tree. He had
been trying to capture a mere reflection of the real necklace all
this time.

Moral of the story:

Material happiness is just like the filthy, polluted river; because
it is a mere reflection of the TRUE happiness in the spiritual world.

We can never achieve the happiness we are looking for no matter how
hard we endeavor in material life. Instead we should look upwards,
toward God, who is the source of real happiness, and stop chasing
after the reflection of this happiness in the material world. This
spiritual happiness is the only thing that can satisfy us completely.

Author Topic: THE ILLUSION OF REFLECTION (Read 768 times)

Sardar_Ji

THE ILLUSION OF REFLECTION

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