In India we have a small story...
A king was very puzzled because a man, a barber, used to come to massage him, to shave him every morning, and he was always happy – he had never seen him sad. The man lived just opposite the king’s palace. He used to get one gold coin every day, which was enough in those days to live for the whole month. So the poor man was living luxuriously... every day one gold coin.
In the night he would play on his flute, and the king would hear the sound of the flute. His problem was, ”I have everything, and this man gets only one coin every day; he is so happy and I am so tense, so worried. Where is the problem?” He asked his prime minister, an old man. The old man said, ”You wait just a few days, and you will know the reason.”
And the prime minister threw a bag full of ninety-nine gold coins into the barber’s house. The next day the barber came, but he was not the same man. He was looking sad. The king said, ”What is the matter? Are you sick or something?” He said, ”No, I am not sick, but a great problem has arisen. Some stupid guy has thrown a bag into my house with ninety-nine gold coins, and he has created problems in my life.”
The king said, ”But what is the problem?”
He said, ”The problem is that now my mind says to save the coin today: don’t eat, don’t waste it; at least make the bag complete, one hundred coins... So today I am going to fast, and you will not hear my flute tonight. And I am worried because that same mind is saying to me continuously: Now you cannot go on living the way you were living. Once in a while you have to save... one hundred, then one hundred and one, then one hundred and two, and where will it end? – it has finished me.”
The more money you have, the more you want.
The more power you have, the more you want.
In the night he would play on his flute, and the king would hear the sound of the flute. His problem was, ”I have everything, and this man gets only one coin every day; he is so happy and I am so tense, so worried. Where is the problem?” He asked his prime minister, an old man. The old man said, ”You wait just a few days, and you will know the reason.”
And the prime minister threw a bag full of ninety-nine gold coins into the barber’s house. The next day the barber came, but he was not the same man. He was looking sad. The king said, ”What is the matter? Are you sick or something?” He said, ”No, I am not sick, but a great problem has arisen. Some stupid guy has thrown a bag into my house with ninety-nine gold coins, and he has created problems in my life.”
The king said, ”But what is the problem?”
He said, ”The problem is that now my mind says to save the coin today: don’t eat, don’t waste it; at least make the bag complete, one hundred coins... So today I am going to fast, and you will not hear my flute tonight. And I am worried because that same mind is saying to me continuously: Now you cannot go on living the way you were living. Once in a while you have to save... one hundred, then one hundred and one, then one hundred and two, and where will it end? – it has finished me.”
The more money you have, the more you want.
The more power you have, the more you want.
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