Satsang Thought for the day

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
emporer's 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 begging
bowl remained always empty.
The whole palace gathered. By and by the rumor went through
out 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."
Diamonds 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 feet of the beggar and
admitted his defeat. he said, "Just tell me one thing. You are
victorious - but before you leave, just fulfill my curiosity. 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."
This understanding transforms life. Go into one desire -- what
is the mechanism of it? First there is a great excitement, great
thrill, adventure. you feel a great kick. Something is going to
happen, you are on the verge of it. And then you have the car,
you have the yacht, you have the house, you have the woman,
and suddenly all is meaningless again. What happens? Your
mind has dematerialized it. The car is standing in the drive, but
there is no excitement anymore. The excitement was only in
getting it. You became so drunk with the desire that you forgot
your inner nothingness. Now the desire is fulfilled, the car in
the drive, the woman in your bed, the money in your bank
account - again excitement disappears. Again the emptiness
is there, ready to eat you up. Again you have to create another
desire to escape this yawning abyss.
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. The other journey is inwards. move inwards, come back
home.