A small story:
One man was doing rigorous penance in a jungle for God to appear.
God condescended and appeared before him. He told him to ask what he wanted.
The man was overjoyed and said that he was a landlord and had lost all his wealth and that he wished to become wealthy again.
God took pity on him and said that the following day, if the man ran from dawn to dusk, all the area covered by him would be his.
The Man was extremely happy.
The next day he started running even before dawn.
He ran as fast as he could.
Close to noon, hunger beckoned but he didn’t pay heed and kept running.
Early in the evening, thirst and fatigue gripped him but he was goaded on by the thought of the neighboring landlord who owned many acres of land. Pictures of all his wealthy contemporaries came to him and he ran on.
A little before sunset, he felt giddy and weak but managed a few more steps.
At twilight, he faltered…and fell dead.
This is how we all live our lives. We run the race without even stopping to think why we are running! We run because everyone else is running! Shankaracharya beautifully describes this as ‘thatha kim, thatha kim…’ meaning ‘what next, what next…’ We are all the time thinking ‘what next’. This is what causes us to run.
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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.
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