jameelash
IB Veteran
- Messages
- 765
- Reaction score
- 138
- Gender
- Female
- Religion
- Islam
Once a pious master was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers.
While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and the Pious man told one of his disciples:
“I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”
The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid.
The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water for my teacher to drink!” So he came back and told the Pious man “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”
After about half an hour, the Pious man asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to the Pious man.
The Pious man looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own, and you got clear water!
Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be... Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.” What did the Pious man emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and the environment, so much that people around start feeling your inner peace and patience.