OUR OWN BEGGING BOWL
A beggar knocks on the doors of an emperor; it is early morning, even a little dark, the sun has not yet come over the horizon. The emperor was coming out for a morning walk in his beautiful garden; otherwise it would have been difficult for the beggar to have an appointment with him. But there was no mediator to prevent him.
The emperor said, "What do you want?"
The beggar said, "Before you ask that, think twice!"
The emperor had never seen such a lion of a man; he has fought wars, has won victories, has made it clear that nobody is more powerful than him, but suddenly this beggar says to him, "Think twice of what you are saying, because you may not be able to fulfill it!"
The king said, "Don't be worried, that is my concern; you ask what you want, it will be done!" The beggar laughed.
.. the emperor could not understand the laughter.
The beggar said, "You see my begging bowl? I want it to be filled! It does not matter with what, the only condition is that it should be filled, it should be full. You can still say no, but if you say yes, then you are taking a risk."
The emperor's time to laugh had come, because a beggar's bowl... and he is being given a condition! He told his premier to fill the beggar's bowl with diamonds, so that this beggar can know who he is asking.
The beggar again said, "Think twice."
And soon it became apparent that the beggar was right, because the moment the diamonds were poured into his begging bowl, they simply disappeared. More diamonds, more emeralds, more rubies -- the king had tremendous treasures, but within hours everything was gone and the begging bowl was still empty.
The word spread like wildfire in the capital; thousands of people arrived to see this miraculous incident. When the precious stones were finished, the king said, "Bring out all the gold and silver, everything! My whole kingdom is at stake, my whole integrity is being challenged."
But by the evening everything had disappeared in the beggar's bowl and there were only two beggars left -- one used to be the emperor.
The emperor said, "Before I touch your feet and ask your forgiveness for not listening to your warning to think twice, just please tell me the secret of this begging bowl."
The beggar said, "There is no secret. I found this begging bowl on a funeral ground, it is a human skull. I have polished it, made it look like a bowl. I am a poor man, I cannot even purchase a bowl, but because it is a human skull, you go on pouring anything into it and it disappears."
The story is tremendously meaningful. Have you ever thought about your own begging bowl? Everything disappears: power, prestige, respectability, riches, everything disappears and your begging bowl goes on opening its mouth for more and more. And because of this continuous effort for more, you go on missing this. The "more" takes you away from this. The desire, the longing for something else takes you away from this moment.
And there are only two kinds of people in the world: the majority is running after shadows, they will never be fulfilled. Their begging bowls will remain with them till they enter their graves.
And a very small minority, one in a million, stops running, just remains standing here and now, drops all desires, asks for nothing and suddenly he finds everything within himself.
This is the door of the kingdom of God.