The Begging Bowl……….

An Emperor had one day called a beggar to his Palace. This beggar used to beg  each and everyday and from these small alms that he received from people, he made his day to day living.  But he had a made a name for himself and people had heard that he had a begging bowl that had some magical properties in them.  The Emperor wanted to know what magic did the begging bowl and let me call him and see for myself whether all this was the truth.

So he one day told his Vizier to bring the beggar to the palace. Once the beggar came, the Emperor asked him ‘what are you going to show me with the begging bowl that you are carrying and what am I to give you’. The beggar said, ‘If you are going to give me anything there is a condition.’ The Emperor said, ‘What do you mean? What do you mean by your condition?’ The beggar said, ‘This is my condition: I accept only if you can fill my begging bowl absolutely to the brim.’ Though it was a small begging bowl. The King said, ‘What do you think I am? Am I a beggar? I cannot fill this dirty small begging bowl?’

The beggar said, ‘It is better to tell you before, because later you can get into trouble. If you think you can fill then please keep on the fill.’ The King called his Vizier and told him to fill it with precious stones, with diamonds and rubies, emeralds. Let this beggar know with whom he is talking.’ But then there was a catch. As soon as the bowl was filled to the King’s utter  surprised, as soon as the precious stones fell into the bowl, they would suddenly disappear. It was filled many times and each time it was again empty.

Now the King was in a great rage, but he told the Vizier, ‘Even if my whole kingdom goes, if all my treasuries are emptied, let them be, but I cannot allow this beggar to defeat me. This is too much.’ And all the treasure, it is said disappeared. By and by the King became a beggar. It took months. And the beggar was there and the King was there and the whole capital was there and everybody was wondering what was going to happen, what would happen in the end.   Everything was simply disappearing.

Finally, the King had to fall at the feet of the beggar and he said, ‘Forgive me, but before you leave just tell me one thing. What is the secret of this begging bowl? All has disappeared in it and I am left a pauper.’ The beggar started laughing. He said, ‘It is made of human ego. I have made this begging bowl of a human ego: everything disappears in it, nothing ever fulfils it or sustains it.’ The King realised that this was not an ordinary beggar but a man of Knowledge.

That is what is happening to all of us. It is not a story; it is the reality of our life. You go on putting in your begging bowl houses, cars, bank balances, conditions on life how one has to live etc., and again you are empty. Never any satisfaction, never any contentment and again you are begging for more. It is a true fact; we remain a beggar always. The begging bowl remains always empty. It seems it has no bottom to it. You drop anything, it simply disappears. Just live without any kind of EGO because EGO is never fulfilled. Live a simple and a beautiful Life with no expectations.