Beggar vs. King

Beggar vs. King

We pretend to be an emperor, a king, but in reality we are simply a beggar.

Every day, we keep on asking and begging for one thing or the other.

We are never satisfied. We never get tired of asking for more. 

“Daata oh na mangiye,  phir mangan jaaiye “ 

Why do we have to go to ‘Daata’, the provider again and again? 

Either ‘Daata’, the provider is not capable of giving everything at once or we are not asking for the right thing. Which one is it? 

Of-course “Sarv ka Daata”, the true Guru / the almighty Nirankar is all powerful and most merciful who not only can, but gives us everything. He makes us the king. He makes us realize the “Self” and its power but we forget it every day and start behaving like the beggars again. True Guru is like a father who not only gives his son a loaf of bread but also teaches him how to earn it. Perhaps we are like those children who tend to forget the lesson every day.  

I heard a story of a monk who lived in a small village. One evening, he decided not to cook because he thought he was not hungry. Later he regretted it and wanted to cook some rice but he did not have any fire in his stove. In those days people in small villages did not have the matches. They used to keep a small piece of wood burning all night in the stove and add some more wood in the morning when they needed to cook. 

The monk thought he would not be able to sleep at night if he did not eat. So he picked up his lamp and went to his neighbor and asked if they had any fire. The neighbor apologized and told him that they have already put out the fire and they would also need to get it from someone in the morning. 

The monk went from house to house asking for fire and got same reply from everyone until he reached at the last house on his street. Sad and disheartened, but yet with a dim light of hope, he knocked and an elderly woman opened the door. 

“Pardon me ma’am, but I am hungry and want to cook some rice. Would you please be kind enough to give me a little fire so I may be able to light my stove? ”The monk asked.  

The lady looked at him and laughed. 

“Ma’am, I have knocked at every door in the village. You are my last hope.” The monk said, “Earlier, I thought I was not hungry so I put out the fire. But now I am hungry and want to cook some rice. Is it so wrong to change my mind and cook at this time? Why do you make fun of me O’ mother?”

The lady smiled and said “I am not laughing at you because you are hungry and want to cook so late at night. I am laughing because you are carrying a lamp in your hand with burning fire, and yet you are going from house to house begging for it. Did you not know what was in your hand? Did you forget that you had it with you all this time?”

The monk felt ashamed.

But don’t we do the same thing? 

Day after day….. Moment to moment…. We keep on asking and begging … and then begging for some more, without realizing what was given to us by the Guru. 

Guru gives the Gyana to realize the ‘Self’, which is a king, not a beggar.