Healing Guru

The guru and his disciple were on a trip in search of knowledge. One hot afternoon they decided to rest under a huge tree. A small stream was flowing a little distance away. The teacher asked his disciple to fetch some water to drink. Off went the young man with a utensil in hand. “The water is clear and seems to be cool,” happily thought the disciple as he looked through to the bottom of the stream. He was about to fill water in the container, when an ox cart waded through the shallow part of the stream throwing up all the slush that was well settled between the little pebbles. In no time the water got muddy. A disappointed man, he walked back to his teacher.

After listening to the incident, the teacher asked his student to go again after some time when the slush settled down. The young disciple did as told. While he waited on the banks of the stream for the water to clear, another cart arrived and made its own contribution to the agitation. This appeared to be the order of the day. A defeated man, he walked back to his teacher.

A smiling guru welcomed his student. “Young man,” said the teacher, “Any lessons that you learnt today?” “Guruji,” replied the irritated student, “What could one learn from such a waste of a day? What could passing ox carts and muddy waters possibly teach anyone, except that they keep you thirsty?”

The guru, offering his disciple some water he had stored earlier, asked, “Can you not relate the agitated waters to the state of our minds?” and continued, “ The ox carts did to the water of the stream what our thoughts do to our minds.” “I am getting your point, Guruji,” said the pupil trying to understand the deeper implications. The guru continued, “Thoughts, like carts, tend to unsettle our minds. It is only in a thoughtless state that we can awaken our consciousness.”