The Farmer's Son

Dear loving people,

Each blessed day, I try my very best to do what I have to do. What about you? As achievers, we have to do what we have to do to live our everyday lives in a better way. We should strive to be goal-getters and  to get good results commensurate to our effort but, the down side comes in when we become too attached to outcomes (hope I am not getting you the more confused – let me explain). We should not be too attached to the outcomes of what we do, or spend so much time and emotion on controlling a future that can't be controlled. You get the point?

Do your utmost best, and leave the rest to the heavens – consult with it as often as you can, rather than the intellect.  I understood from countless testimonies from very successful people that Wise men and women are not attached to results, but rather live beyond time in the eternal present. Whether the result of our actions is negative or positive, we should not be attached to it (remember our discuss on the law of polarity?). We have to let it go and move on. The essential point is to strive to be empty and to let all things go - let the contents of the mind go - both good and bad - and let the light that illumines the mind flow through us and guide our way. Then we can treat each moment, each situation, as a new beginning. Then, we will be "seeing", hearing, sensing, and feeling from a deeper more open space - with and from our hearts, so to speak.

One day in late summer, an old farmer was working in his field with his old sick horse. The farmer felt compassion for the horse and desired to lift its burden. So he left his horse loose to go to the mountains and live out the rest of its life.

Soon after, neighbors from the nearby village visited, offering their condolences and said, "What a shame.  Now your only horse is gone.  How unfortunate you are! You must be very sad. How will you live, work the land, and prosper?" The farmer replied: "Who knows? We shall see".

One week later, the old horse came back now rejuvenated after meandering in the mountainsides while eating the wild grasses. He came back with twelve new younger and healthy horses which followed the old horse into the corral. 

Word got out in the village of the old farmer's good fortune and it wasn't long before people stopped by to congratulate the farmer on his good luck.  "How fortunate you are!" they exclaimed. “You must be very happy!"  Again, the farmer softly said, "Who knows? We shall see."

At daybreak on the next morning, the farmer's only son set off to attempt to train the new wild horses, but the farmer's son was thrown to the ground and broke his leg.  One by one the villagers arrived during the day to bemoan the farmer's latest misfortune. "Oh, what a tragedy!  Your son won't be able to help you farm with a broken leg. You'll have to do all the work yourself, How will you survive? You must be very sad".  They said.  Calmly going about his usual business the farmer answered, "Who knows? We shall see"

Several days later a war broke out. The Emperor's men arrived in the village demanding that young men come with them to be conscripted into the Emperor's army.  As it happened the farmer's son was deemed unfit because of his broken leg.  "What very good fortune you have!!" the villagers exclaimed as their own young sons were marched away. "You must be very happy." "Who knows? We shall see!” replied the old farmer as he headed off to work his field alone.

As time went on the broken leg healed but the son was left with a slight limp. Again the neighbors came to pay their condolences. "Oh what bad luck. Too bad for you"!  But the old farmer simply replied; "Who knows? We shall see."

As it turned out the other young village boys had died in the war and the old farmer and his son were the only able bodied men capable of working the village lands. The old farmer became wealthy and was very generous to the villagers. They said: "Oh how fortunate we are, you must be very happy", to which the old farmer replied, "Who knows? We shall see!" 

This classic story of the farmer's son is not one of passivity, but rather about how to be free from the limited results of logical efforts – conditional happiness and unhappiness stemming from ignorance which is obstructed vision seeing the small picture devoid of primary causes. 

Whatever bothers us the most are the things we have to let go of; they are reflections of an inner conflict. All of our problems even our health problems are related to disturbances of our emotions.

The best that we can do, is to do our very best - to act from that vast space of great happiness and reflect that as best we can. Always do your best in loving happiness! That feels best!