Our minds are filled with endless desires. We have intense longing - a hankering for people to love us, for objects to possess and for outcome of our actions. Desire is the fuel that ignites action in us and makes us work endlessly to achieve the object of desire. And as soon as one desire is achieved, several others take place of the one already fulfilled and again those desires which are powerful take up our effort and action and we fulfill them. This endless cycle of desire and fulfillment and more desires and more fulfillment goes on throughout our lives. The mountains of unfulfilled desires within us are the cause of the endless cycles of births and deaths and we are born again and again for fulfillment of desires. Any amount of human effort, objects, wealth and other things poured into the cup of mind rarely fill the cup and the cup of the mind is bottomless. Only when we experience this reality repeatedly, we will give up hankering for worldly objects and focus our attention on the eternal love of God. The story of the beggar with the King teaches us this truth:
A King came out of his palace for his regular morning walk to check on the welfare of his subjects. He met a beggar on the doorway. He asked the beggar what he wanted. The beggar laughed aloud and said: O King, you ask as if you can fulfill my desire. But can you? The King was offended and promised to offer the beggar anything of his choice to his fullest satisfaction. The beggar warned the King to think twice before he made promises.
The beggar was not an ordinary beggar. He was the Guru of the King in his past life. In that life, the disciple had not awakened fully into the spiritual path and had given up his body with regrets that though he had a great Guru, he had not attained self realization The Guru had promised him that in his next life, he would come and wake him up to the love of God and the mire of material life. The disciple born as the King had forgotten his past life but the Guru remembered his promise to his disciple. The King insisted on fulfilling the beggar’s desire. And the beggar presented the King, a very simple desire: Please fill my begging bowl with something to the brim.
The King found the request ridiculous. He called his minister and asked him to fill the beggar’s bowl with money. The minister got a bag of money and poured it into the bowl. The bowl became empty. The minister ordered bag after bag of money to be emptied into it. It would disappear and the bowl would always be empty. Expensive silks, clothes, fruits, food were poured into the bowl. But the result was same. It was always empty. By now there was a huge crowd watching the fun. The prestige of the King was at stake. He was ready to pour his entire kingdom into the bowl but was not ready to be defeated by the beggar.
Diamonds, pearls, emeralds, gold were all poured into the beggar’s bowl. The royal treasury was now empty. The bowl seemed bottomless. Everything that was poured into it just seemed to vanish. It was now evening and everything possible had been poured into the bowl. The people were watching in shock and utter silence. Finally, the King admitted defeat. He fell at the beggar’s feet and said: You are victorious. Before you leave, please tell me just one thing – what is the begging bowl made of? I am very curious to know!
The beggar laughed and said: It is made up of human mind! I am your Guru from the past life and I came here to fulfill my promise to you to wake you up to the reality of life and Divinity! The King invited his Guru to stay at the royal palace and guide him. With sincere regular efforts, the King attained enlightenment.
There is no end to desires or their fulfillment Let us do our daily duties and work as offering to God and be sincere in the SitaRam mantra japa, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru. When we are sincere in our desire to overcome the endless desires of life, divine grace will help us overcome our desires and and lead us to Light.
