“This happened in a remote village. A young boy, the son of a poor man, was healthy and very strong. He was so strong that when the King passed through the village on his elephant, the boy would grab the elephant by its trunk, and the animal could not take a single step. This caused great displeasure for the King and delight for the people, who would gather in the marketplace and laugh at the monarch. The King called his minister and said:
‘This can no longer be tolerated. I dare not pass through the village anymore, and the boy is now wandering through other villages as well—I never know where we might cross paths. You must do something. You must somehow diminish his strength and energy.’
‘I will have to consult the sages,’ the minister replied, ‘for I have no idea what to do. If the boy had a shop, he would work there and exhaust himself; if he worked in an office or were a teacher, he would expend his strength. But he is a beggar; he has nothing and does nothing. He lives for his own pleasure. The people love him and feed him, so the boy does nothing but sleep, eat, and enjoy life.’
And so, the minister went to a wise old man. The sage instructed him:
‘Do one thing. Go and tell the boy that you will give him one gold rupee every day if he does one very small thing: he must go and light the lamp in the village temple every day. Nothing more—when it gets dark, he is to go to the temple and light the lamp. And for this, you will give him one rupee.’
‘But how will this help?’ the minister wondered. ‘He will have more to eat and will no longer need to beg, so he will gain even more strength.’
‘Do as I tell you,’ the sage insisted.
And so it was done. The following week, when the King passed through the village, the boy tried again to stop the elephant, but he failed. The elephant dragged him along.”
If this parable comes to you now, check whether you are ready to trust Life and surrender your worries about material survival to it. Today, ask with all your heart to be released from the unconscious thoughts that make you anxious about the future and fill you with heaviness and excessive seriousness. Tell yourself that you have nothing to lose, and firmly grab the “trunk” of that which disempowers you.
If you manage to feel the freedom that comes with the thought “I have nothing to lose,” it will lose its power over you. After that, you will be able to continue taking action without being dragged away by the elephant.
