Peace of Mind

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

Using our common sense the way Nature asks for and tuning our intelligence the way world wants it are different. The first choice is effective but the other one is defective, with regard to problems and solutions. I think that the world needs a different approach in its efforts to tackle down the multitudes of problems it faces every moment. Look at the many problems that passed through some point in our past. They are no more there. The fun is when we analysis the situation once again; it might reveal that the solution we proposed was not the best.

Once, while Buddha was walking to another town with a few of his followers, they happened to pass a river. Buddha told one of his disciples, “Do get me some water from that river there.” The disciple walked up to the river. Right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the river. As a result, the water became very muddy and very turbid. The disciple thought, ‘how can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!’ So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.” After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the river and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the river. This time he found that the river had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be drunk. Without any hesitation, he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha 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.”  Same is the case with even the most confusing riddles in our life. What we require is some patience and a little trust. 

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