There is a touching little story told to us of a Buddhist bhikkhu. He was the son of a rich nobleman and lived in a palace. Coming under the influence of the Buddha, he renounces his wealth and comfort and accepts the hardships of a mendicant’s life. He sleeps on the bare ground underneath trees; he eats what he gets by way of alms. He feels happy. One day, he gets an attack of rheumatic pain. At first, he treats it with indifference. Days pass by; the pain persists. He cannot walk with ease.
At times, he cannot even meditate properly. He feels miserable. Gone is the joy of life. However hard he tries, he cannot recapture his lost peace. His mind becomes sluggish; he feels nerve-tired and weary. One day, as he is out begging alms, he finds a little girl playing with her friends. She is a cripple. She has only one leg and hobbles on crutches. But she is happy as a wave dancing on the sea. She shouts and laughs and makes merry with other children. Seeing her, the bhikkhu feels ashamed of himself. “This little girl who has only one leg is happy,” he says to himself, “and I, a disciple of the Buddha, despair because of a little pain!” He returns a new man. The pain no longer troubles him. He is free!
Sadness is due to what happens to us; it is due to what happens within us. Significant are the words of Sir Oliver Cromwell, the man who must have faced dangers and difficulties almost every day: “I bless God I have been inured to difficulties, and I never found God failing when I trusted in Him.” If only we learn to trust in Him, in all situations and circumstances of life, no disappointment can touch us.
The man who has learnt the art of living draws from the trials and tribulations of life the strength he needs to serve God and His suffering creation. Wonderful are the words of advice which St Francis de Sales gave to his brothers: “Remember that bees make the sweetest honey from the flower of the thyme—a small and bitter herb.”
Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.
