Doing to Being

This is one of my most loved stories ever.

The naked old sadhu sprawls under a tree. Alexander's soldiers come up to him and tell him that he has been summoned by the mighty conqueror. The sadhu refuses to move a limb. The soldiers ask him again, saying Alexander will give him whatever he wishes for. The sadhu nonchalantly says, 'Move, you are blocking the sunlight'. The soldiers, nonplussed, say, 'Come with us or else Alexander will have you killed.' The sadhu, without batting an eyelid, says, 'Go tell your king, he can kill my body but he cannot touch who I really am.'

This story signifies to me the movement from doing to being. The movement from head to heart.The movement from the commotion of the world to stillness within, from seeking riches and self worth outside to seeking and finding them within. The movement begins when one, tired of seeking that ever elusive satiation outside, turns inwards. And then, when one finds  riches which are truly one's own, which can never be taken away, all insecurity ends. One no longer feels compelled to run, to chase things. One is no longer afraid to lose. All fears, all wants end. One still does things but that doing comes from a fullness within. Its no longer the striving, the exhaustion of filling a bottomless pit.

Its the movement to peace. The final homecoming.