Clear Water

Clear Water 

Once, Gautam Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his followers. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.” The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some children were playing in the water and, right at that moment, a boat started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, 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 an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So 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, “Tell me, what did you do to make the water clean?

You did nothing. You just 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.”

So what did Buddha emphasize here?

He said, “It is effortless.”

Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process.

When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around also start feeling that peace and grace.