The Inner Journey

Long ago, there lived a great emperor named Chandragupta. He had all the comforts of the world, but his mind was never at peace. He was often restless and couldn't sleep at night. He consulted many scholars and pundits, but none of their answers brought him peace.

Finally, he approached a Bodhisattva, a reclusive sage in the forest.

The sage's unique condition

When the emperor explained his problem, the sage said, "King, I can show you the path to peace, but you must sit with me in a dark cave for seven days. The condition is that you will not speak a single word during these seven days and will not take any foreign objects with you."

The king agreed. He went inside the cave.

Seven Days of Introspection

As the days passed, the king's mind began to stir.

Day 1: The king remembered his enemies.  He was angry that he hadn't killed them. This was the layer of his anger.

Day Two: He began to remember his queens, gold, silver, and palace. This was the layer of his attachment.

Day Three and Fourth: He began to fear that someone might steal his kingdom from behind. This was the layer of his fear.

Day Five: He became bored. He wondered why he was sitting there. It was the layer of his ego that prevented him from giving up.

Experience of the Void

On the sixth day, when all thoughts had faded and subsided, the king felt a strange silence. For the first time, he heard the sound of his own breathing. He realized that he was neither king, nor husband, nor enemy. He was simply an 'existence'.

On the seventh day, when the sages came to the cave, they saw a strange glow on the king's face. Tears were flowing from the king's eyes, but they were not of sorrow, but of joy.

The Mahatma's Teaching

The sage asked, "King, have you found peace?"

The king said in a low voice, "Gurudev, until now I had set out to conquer the outside world, but the real battle was raging within me. I realized that the cause of my suffering wasn't an enemy or a deficiency, but the dust of thoughts and disorders that had accumulated within me. When I introspected, I found that the peace I was seeking outside had always been within me."

The sage smiled and said:"Just as calm waves are necessary to find pearls at the bottom of the ocean, churning and silence of the mind are necessary to realize the soul. One who knows himself knows God."

Lesson : - We try to change the entire world, but until we look within and introspect, we cannot find true happiness.  Self-introspection is the process through which the poison (evils) within us comes out and nectar (peace) is attained.

Read more : - Chasing the Stars: The Quest for Vacuum Energy and Faster-Than-Light Travel