Once there was an
old man who lived in a cottage in the forest. He had recently retired due to old
age, and was bored and restless as a result. He missed going to work in
the village every day.
His cottage was old. He built it when he was young, and they had both had seen better days.
More cracks and leaks appeared every day.
One day, while
noticing he could see sunlight streaming through one of the larger cracks, he thought, “Why not tear it all down
and build a new one? I did it once before.”
He decided to start
right away. He picked up his heaviest sledgehammer and – with some effort – hoisted it over his shoulder…
Then he stopped
himself, lowering the hammer.
Something told him
he should get some advice in case he was making a big mistake.
He heard there was
an old guru who lived deep in the forest, so he decided to seek him out. He'd never had time before because he always worked long hours, but this was the perfect excuse.
After a long day of
traveling into the deepest part of the forest, he found the bearded guru sitting on a rock contemplating a bird on the branch of a tree. After
he explained his situation to the guru, he asked, “Should I tear down my cottage and
rebuild it, or just let it waste away?”
The guru stroked
his beard and said, “There is only one important voice you should listen to,
yes? When you hear it, come back and tell me what it says.”
The old man said he
would and thanked him.
On the way back
home, he stopped in the village to chat with some villagers. He
told them what he was thinking of doing.
Immediately everyone started
giving him opinions on what he should do. This surprised and
confused him.
Suddenly the crowd
parted, and the richest man in the village strutted through. He spoke louder
than the rest:
“Your cottage is
old and falling apart. But so are you, old man, so just sit in your rocking chair and wait till your next life to build a new one.”
This saddened the
old man. As he left, he even heard some of the villagers laugh at him.
He went back to the
guru and told him what happened. "...so therefore, I think it's
best I leave my cottage alone.”
“Because of what
the man said, yes?”
“You said to listen
for the most important voice. He’s very rich and successful, so I knew his
voice was the most important one.”
The guru clasped
his hands and spoke in a low tone. “Go deeper, yes? Because the most important voice is within you."
"I don't hear it."
"With time and
patience, you will hear it constantly. You just have to work at it."
The old man nodded
and left.
As
he stepped over some large roots on the way back, he tried in vain to hear some voice inside himself. But all he could hear were the villagers’
taunts and the rich man’s insults.
This made him
angry. “They didn’t care about me, or what was best for me. I’ll show them!”
When he got home he
immediately picked up the sledgehammer. It was very heavy and he grunted as he
swung it...
But he stopped himself
again. Something told him he should see the guru one more time, even at this late hour. Plus, his back hurt from
swinging the sledgehammer.
The guru was
sitting by a small campfire when the old man emerged from the trees, limping from his back pain.
“Did your inner
voice show you the way?” the guru asked.
“Yes! It said 'I'll
show them and tear it down even if it kills me!'” the man said.
The guru poked the small
fire with a stick. A glowing ember fluttered up into the night sky.
“That voice was
your ego talking with pride, yes?”
“But it’s the only
voice I hear!”
“If you go deeper
in your meditation, I promise you will hear your divine voice, from your purest, truest Self. It will guide you
every time. You just need to work at it.”
“Is it talking to
me now?”
“Every second of
the day. You just have to work at it.”
“The other voices
are so strong! I don’t think I can do it, Master. Something must be broken
inside of me.”
The guru smiled. “Then
we would repair it, yes? But you can’t be too broken because you already hear
the voice. Don’t you see? It’s the one that told you to come to me for help.”
The old man was suddenly
enlightened by this – nothing else needed to be said.
He had a nice,
quiet walk home.
At home, he
meditated on all the guru said and knew it to be true. He started listening.
He started hearing.
And he was no
longer restless.
So now that he
hears his divine voice consistently, what did it tell him to do with his cottage and
all of its cracks and leaks?
Maybe it wasn’t too
broken. Maybe he just needed to work at it.
by Scott Ware
