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14 - All Men Have a Choice...
A tale is told of an Indian
Prince and his Guru (spiritual leader). It is said that on one occasion, when
the Guru was teaching to a group of people, including the Prince, he found
himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who
for some reason was
very angry. The Guru listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage. The
people were amazed to notice that the Guru was not speaking anything and was
just silent. The
Prince was also amazed at this. A little later, he asked the Guru why didn't he
say anything to that person? He said to the Prince including the the
stranger, "If someone gives a gift to another person, who has a choice to
decline it, tell me then, who would then own the gift? The giver of the gift or
the person who refuses to accept the gift?"
"The giver." said the Prince after a little thought. "Any fool can tell this."
added the angry stranger.
"So has happened here too." He said, "This man has abused me, since I had a
choice to accept his abuses or not to accept them, I chose not to accept them.
Thus those abuses went back to the person who gave them. Thus by the power of
our personal refusal to the bad things, or to the things which we do not want to
keep with us, we can keep only good things with us. Vice versa, you should also
try not to give any bad thing to others, lest he might return it to you and you
have to keep that bad thing with you."
The Prince and other
people got very happy to learn this technique to keep only good things with
them.
[All people have a choice to
choose, as what they want to keep with them and what they do not want to keep
with them, so one should not worry about what others give it to you, praise or
abuse - because you have a CHOICE to accept praise and give back the abuse to
the presenter. In the same way one should not give bad things to others also,
lest you will have to keep them with you.]
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