A very wealthy man eventually fell into a great depression, which is a natural consequence of success. Nothing fails like success. Success only matters if you are a failure. Once you succeed, you know that the world, people, society are deceiving you. The man had all kinds of wealth; but his mind was not at peace. He began to seek this peace.
He had all the riches of the world; but now he was chasing mental peace. He went from one sage to the next and they all gave great advice, but advice doesn’t help anyone. All these sages advised him, but nothing fell into place. Finally, one of the men she didn’t ask anything, a man nobody knew – even considered the village idiot – stopped her on the way one day and said: “You are wasting your time needlessly: none of these men are wise. I know them very well; But no one believes me because I’m stupid. Maybe you won’t believe me either, but there is a wise man I know.
Seeing you torture yourself so much for mental peace, I thought I’d better show you the right person. After all, I’m an idiot. No one asks me for advice, and I don’t give it to anyone. But I couldn’t stand it: I broke the silence when I saw you so sad and unhappy. Go to that man in the neighboring village.”
The rich man immediately mounted his beautiful horse and left with a large bag of precious diamonds. He reached the village and saw the man. This man was the Nasreddin Hodja of the Sufis. He asked the teacher: “Can you help me achieve mental peace?” The teacher replied: “Help? I can give it to you.” The rich man thought. “It’s weird, that idiot recommended it first, and I said out of desperation that it wouldn’t hurt to try, so I came here. This guy looks like a bigger idiot. He says, ‘I can give it to you.
The rich man spoke: “Can you give it to me? I went to all kinds of sages and they all gave advice; do this, do this, live disciplined, donate, help the poor, open a hospital, do this, do that. They said all that and actually I did them all, but none of them worked. Even more trouble came to me. Now you’re saying you’re going to give it away?”
The teacher replied: “This job is very easy. Now get off the horse.” The rich man got off his horse. He was holding his bag in his hand and the teacher asked: “Why are you holding that bag so close to your heart?”
“These are very valuable diamonds. If you can give me peace of mind, I’ll give you this bag.” But before the man even knew what had happened, the teacher grabbed the bag and started running.
Shocked for a moment, the rich man did not even understand what to do. Then he followed the teacher. But this was the village of the teacher; He knew every street, every shortcut, and he was running. The rich man had never run in his life and was very fat… He was crying, panting and tears were streaming down his eyes. “I was scammed! This man took all my hard work and everything that I had accumulated throughout my life.” When this was the case, a crowd had gathered and they were all laughing. The rich man said, “Are you all stupid, is this village full of idiots; I am ruined and you are laughing instead of trying to catch the thief.”
Voices arose from the crowd: “He is not a thief, but a very wise man.”
The rich man said, “That idiot in my village has brought this scourge on me!” it has been said. But somehow, he followed the teacher, running and sweating. Hodja came under the tree where the man’s horse was still standing. He sat in the shade of the tree with the bag in his hand and the rich man came crying. The teacher said, “Take that bag”. The rich man took the bag and pressed it to his chest. The teacher asked: “How are you now? Do you feel a little bit of peace?”
The rich man replied, “Yes, it feels very peaceful. You are a very strange man and have strange ways.”
Hodja replied: “There is nothing strange; simple math. You start to take for granted what you have. You need to be shown the possibility of losing it; only then do you realize what you have lost. You haven’t gained anything new. This is the bag you restlessly carry. Now you press the same bag to your heart and everyone sees how happy and peaceful you are: a perfect sage! Go home and don’t bother anyone.”
Osho
