01-26-2007, 12:00 AM
There is a story about a guru and his cranky disciple. Both were getting on in years and they happened to be sitting one afternoon in a cramped, dingy room waiting for someone to bring them food.
"Why are you any different from me?" the disciple grumbled. "We're just two old men sitting here waiting for our dinner."
"That's true," the guru said.
"We see the same room," the disciple went on. "We live in the same world. There's no difference at all."
The guru shook his head. "You say we live in the same world, but we don't. Your world is private; no one else can enter it. It is made of personal memories, desires, feelings, and dreams. My world is not private but open to all. It is eternal and unbounded. Nothing exists in it that I claim as my own. Wherever I look I see love, trust, truth, and eternity."
The disciple still complained. "If your world is so much better than mine, why do you even bother to be here?"
"Because your world is only a dream" the guru said quietly. "And it gives me pleasure when someone wakes up."
Deepak Chopra
For the Standing Mother,
DG
"Why are you any different from me?" the disciple grumbled. "We're just two old men sitting here waiting for our dinner."
"That's true," the guru said.
"We see the same room," the disciple went on. "We live in the same world. There's no difference at all."
The guru shook his head. "You say we live in the same world, but we don't. Your world is private; no one else can enter it. It is made of personal memories, desires, feelings, and dreams. My world is not private but open to all. It is eternal and unbounded. Nothing exists in it that I claim as my own. Wherever I look I see love, trust, truth, and eternity."
The disciple still complained. "If your world is so much better than mine, why do you even bother to be here?"
"Because your world is only a dream" the guru said quietly. "And it gives me pleasure when someone wakes up."
Deepak Chopra
For the Standing Mother,
DG