Page 111 - Bodhayanti Parasparam Vol 9

REALITY DAWNS UPON HIM ALONE .........
grace is silence.” A small story is worth mentioning in this context.
According to legend, while roaming in the desert a young man came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather can so that he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart. Afterward, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher: "Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?" The teacher replied, "You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of loving- kindness and nothing could be sweeter." The meaning of this story is "It is the thought that counts." It represents the awareness that goodness, even happiness, is a choice available to us in every moment. Even in hard times; even faced with that which we would never wish for ourselves, we have
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