The Wisdom of the Sands Vol 2 ~ 07
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| event type | discourse |
| date & time | 8 Mar 1978 am |
| location | Buddha Hall, Poona |
| language | English |
| audio | Available, duration 1h 43min. Quality: good. |
| online audio | |
| video | Not available |
| online video | |
| see also |
|
| online text | find the PDF of this discourse |
| shorttitle | SANDS207 |
- notes
- synopsis
- Reader of the sutra: Sw Ananda Teertha.
- The sutra
- There was once a king who was thirsty. He did not quite know what the difficulty was, but he said, "My throat is dry."
- Lackeys at once ran swiftly to find something suitable to alleviate the condition. They came back with lubricating oil. When the king drank it, his throat did not feel dry any more, but he knew that something was not right. The oil produced a curious sensation in his mouth. He croaked, "My tongue feels awful, and there is a curious taste. It is slippery..."
- The doctor immediately prescribed pickles and vinegar -- which the king ate.
- Soon he had stomach-ache and watering eyes to add to his sorrows.
- "I think I must be thirsty," he mumbled, for his sufferings had made him do some thinking.
- "Thirst never made the eyes water," said the courtiers to one another.
- But kings are often capricious, and they ran to fetch rosewater, and scented syrupy wines fit for a king.
- The king drank it all, but still felt no better -- and his digestion was ruined.
- A wise man happened along in the middle of this crisis, and he said, "His Majesty needs ordinary water."
- "A king could never drink common water," shouted the court in unison.
- "Of course not," said the king. "And, in fact, I feel quite insulted -- both as a king being offered plain water, and also as a patient. After all, it must be impossible that such a dreadful and daily more complicated ailment as mine could have such a simple remedy. Such a concept is contrary to logic, a disgrace to its originator, and an affront to the sick."
- That is how the wise man came to be renamed 'the idiot'.
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