The True Gold
MAN HAS spent thousands of years looking for the philosopher’s stone which would transform base metals into gold. They resort to alchemy, magic, and undertake every kind of penance and mortification for the sake of this aim. Some imagine that they find it when they make a lot of money and can buy whatever they need. Some imagine they have found it when they have attained power over other people. Some believe they have found it when they become adept at black magic.
A man seeking the philosopher’s stone heard of a man who had found it and set out to meet this man . He went over hill and dale, spent months of misery and tribulation, boiling in the hot summer and freezing in the ruthless winters until he reached the place where the Rishi lived.
"I have come looking for the philosopher’s stone," he told the Rishi.
"Why?" asked the Rishi.
"So that I may learn to convert base metal into gold," said the man.
"Gold, in the spiritual sense," said the Rishi," is Man, the highest form of life in this world. The true philosopher does not study the way to transform base metal into gold but how man spends his life turning himself into base metal."