An Empty Bowl of Desire
By: Shaily Agarwal
Tags: Meditation, Search, Quests, Desire, Wants

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walk when he met a beggar. He asked the beggar,

“What do you want?”

The beggar laughed and said,

“You are asking me as though you can fulfill my desire!”

The king was offended. He said,

“Of course I can fulfill your desire. What is it? Just tell me.”

And the beggar said,

“Think twice before you promise anything.”

The beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the emporers past life master. He had promised in that life, “I will come and try to wake you in your next life. This life you have missed but I will come again.” But the king had forgotten completely – who remembers past lives? So he insisted,

“I will fulfill anything you ask. I am a very powerful emperor, what can you possibly desire that I can not give to you?”

The beggar said,

“It is a very simple desire. You see this begging bowl? Can you fill it with something?”

The emperor said,

“Of course!”

He called one of his viziers and told him,

“Fill this mans begging bowl with money.”

The vizier went and got some money and poured it into the bowl, and it disappeared. And he poured more and more, and the moment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the beggging bowl remained empty.

The whole palace gathered. By and by the rumor went throughout the whole capital, and a huge crowd gathered. The prestige of the emperor was at stake.

He said to his viziers,

“If the whole kingdom is lost, I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated by this beggar.”

Diamons and pearls and emeralds, his treasuries were becoming empty.The begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. Everything that was put into it – everything! – immediately disappeared, went out of existence. Finally it was the evening, and the people were standing there in utter silence.

The king dropped at the fet of the beggar and admitted his defeat. he said,

“Just tell me one thing. You are victorious – but before you leave, just fulfill my curiousity. What is the begging bowl made of?”

The beggar laughed and said,

“It is made up of the human mind. There is no secret. It is simple made up of human desire.”

Humans are Beggars. .

Find one person in this universe who doesn’t have any desire. ( Here I am not referring to ambition). I bet, you cant. It’s an inbuilt mechanism, you know. We need something, then we need something else..and the cycle continues.

Initially when your desire is fulfilled, you feel excited & thrilled. Then gradually your excitement starts fading and you crave for another. You are constantly in quest of that ‘kick’ in your life. You have the money, the house, the car…then you intend to have more money, another car..another house, a big one.

When we turn our attention to the acquisition of material things, we turn away from our true nature and away from the present moment.

The present moment is the only place that you can find true happiness because it is the only place that truly exists.

This apply in relationships as well. Blessed are those souls who get the partners who doesn’t seek for an outside affinity. A human being is never satisfied. Similarly professionally, you get a good job, then you develop a desire for promotion, a cabin, more incentives and finally the other job. This never ends, isn’t it.

There is a point when you have it all, and suddenly you feel your life is meaningless, its empty.

Why?

Your mind has dematerialised it. Again an emptiness…

And to fill the emptiness your mind again creates a series of desire in your heart and mind. And you intend to utilise all your energy to fulfill your newly created desire. It makes you perplexed, uneasy and constantly bugs you to fulfill your unaccomplished desires.

That’s how one moves from one desire to another desire. That’s how one remains a beggar. Your whole life proves it again and again, every desire frustrates. And when the goal is achieved, you will need another desire.

The day you understand that desire as such is going to fail comes the turning point in your life. This transforms life.

Detach yourself from the desires.

When you realize this as the true nature of what you are experiencing, you break and transcend this cycle of longing.

But remember, the wanting for Wisdom and Experience and Truth is a good thing.

We are here to live life and pursue our true nature, and you will only find that through wisdom and experiences. You can never understand something truly until you have experienced it and it is in your perception. The other journey is inwards. Move inwards, come back home.

How to control our desires

It is difficult, trust me. It is definitely not easy to stop craving for things you love or want to fulfill. But mind you, I said difficult, not impossible.

We CAN control the desires by practicing Yoga & Meditation.

Present moment living and mindfulness, along with meditation, will take you to a higher level of consciousness and existence.

With a little practice (give it some time), you will feel the boundless sensation in yourself and it will quench the thirst of your longing. You will no longer have to subconsciously impose this boundless longing on yourself or the outside world.