When Losing is better than Gaining

A farmer popularly known as 'the Wise man' lived with his family in a hut in a village. He read Bhagwat geeta (the holy book of Hindus) regularly and advised everyone to read it, as it is the secret to all the success, happiness and prosperity a person seeks in his life. The villagers came to him with their problems and confusions and he had a solution to all their dilemmas with some reference or example from the Bhagwat Geeta, hence the name "Wise Man" was given to him. His son was not a big fan of the great book and also his father. According to him, his father could have done something else with his intellect instead of preaching the Geeta to those villagers, and that way he could earn lots of money, build a huge house and keep his family happy. He also loathed the people as idiots for following what his father says. 

One afternoon when the wise man asked his son to sit with him as it was the time for reading the book, and to ask if he has any doubts, his son was infuriated and shouted- "Do hell with your pious book, I don't want to waste my time like you, reading an endless book everyday that I can never remember and discussing its contents with everyone around. Had it been a magical book that could change one's life, our life would have changed long ago. How is it a holy book if reading it neither pleases the Gods nor we gain anything from it?" 

The wise man smiled and said "Oh so this is your doubt? Don't worry, I will help you understand this. But before that can you help me with a task?" The man gave a basket that was used for carrying coal to his son and asked him, "Can you fetch me some water in this basket from the nearby lake?" Confused and reluctant, the boy kept the basket down and took a bucket for fetching the water, but his father insisted that he wanted the water to be brought in the basket only. So the boy went to the lake, filled the basket with water and started moving towards his hut. But by the time he reached the hut, all the water in the basket was lost due to the holes in the weaved basket. He looked at his father with an irritated expression but his father smiled and asked him to bring the water again. The poor boy brought the water 4-5 times, every time faster than before to avoid losing all the water but since there were so many holes, water always percolated through them and was finished mid way. 

The wise man then spoke- "Son, look at the basket of coal, bringing water in it was not useless, although you could not gain the water in the basket but in your efforts, the basket which had become black in colour and extremely dirty by carrying coal is now clean and fresh. It is no more a coal basket, you can carry grains, fruits or whatever you want in this basket now, which you would never keep in a dirty black basket. Hence, although you did not gain water, but you lost the coal particles and that is also not bad, isn't it? Now look at the path on which you carried this water, the soil in this entire area is dehydrated with dried grass and cracked surface, but the path you followed is now in relief, the water that fell from the basket will contribute to the moisture and give a new life to the dying grass. So even if you don't remember the contents of the book or it does not help you perform magic, it is doing wonders to you every time you read it."

We often find it useless and rather foolish to maintain our wisdom and patience in adversities. Being good, doing good and talking good is something we can easily follow in good times but when situation is adverse, we are tempted to show our worst behavior, meet the enemies of our enemy and talk about all the negative things in the world. But this is what marks the difference. Reading good books, meeting good people and talking about good things may not act as a magic to change our external environment, but it surely changes us from the inside. They make our soul pure and pious and clean all the negative, malignant and destructive thoughts off our minds. 

Like the basket, our mind and soul are weaved with constructive and positive thoughts but in our hectic and stressful lives we often carry more negativity than positivity, more hatred than love and more attitude than gratitude. 

Positive people, positive thoughts, positive talks and reading good books cleans our mind and soul and make it easier to live happily, face challenges, overcome obstacles and succeed in life. Hence as the wise man said, it is actually the secret to ultimate happiness and prosperity. Not only for us, this process is helpful for all others who come in contact with us as they also get nourished and soothed like the grass in the path of the basket of water. So the next time someone or your own self asks you, what you have gained by 'being good', 'doing good' or 'thinking good' , tell them what you have lost or washed away- anger, hatred, anxiety, negativity, fatigue, frustration and stress, 

and the Loss is more precious to you than the Gain. 

Talking of Bhagwat geeta, here is great thought from the great book:

Uddharedaatmanaatmaanam naatmaanamavasaadayet;

Atmaiva hyaatmano bandhuraatmaiva ripuraatmanah.

which means- let a man lift himself by his own self alone, let him not lower himself;

for this self alone is the friend of oneself and this self alone is the enemy of oneself.

It is for us to decide whether we are acting as our own friend or enemy, whether we prefer to gain what is Trivial or lose what is Perilous