Once there lived a humble king. Every evening he would sit at the feet of a spiritual master in the forest. Besides him there were also other spiritual seekers including a sunyasin.
(A sunyasin is an ascetic in India who owns little more than the yellow robe on his or her back. The sunyasin has renounced possessions, relationships - everything. He or she lives by begging and is completely at the mercy of fate.)
This man's only possessions were his robe, a begging bowl and 2 loincloths.
Both the kind and the sunyasin were devoted, and they sat in the front row, one on each side of the master during the daily meditation.
One day the sunyasin exploded in anger at the master, "Look here," he said. "I have renounced everything to be a holy man. Yet you don't treat me with any more respect than this king who comes here in fine silks, wearing jewellery with priceless gems.
"He drinks wine and eats whenever he wants from golden plates. He has a harem, servants, and partakes of earthly pleasures without end.
"I have given up all possessions, yet you don't treat me with any more honour than you do this man!"
The master nodded, but said nothing. Similarly, the king was silent.
A few days later, during the master's daily teachings, a messenger burst in and urgently whispered something to the kind.
The king nodded calmly, dismissed the young man, and returned to his prayers. A few minutes later, another messenger hastily arrived and blurted out, "A fire has broken out, and it threatens the palace!"
The king nodded calmly and returned to his meditation.
Not long after that, a third messenger dashed in and shouted, "Your Majesty, the fire is at the gates of the palace!"
Again, the king nodded, but that was all.
The fire raced through the palace, and before long, reached the edge of the forest. Soon the prayer group could feel the very heat of the blaze against their faces.
Suddenly the sunyasin remembered that he had washed his extra loincloth and hung it up to dry in the branches of a nearby tree.
He jumped to his feet and went dashing toward it. Just then the raging fire stopped. The smoke was entirely gone, the sun was visible again, and the palace was shining serenely just beyond the forest.
The puzzled sunyasin stopped in mid-stride and asked, "What happened?"
The master replied, "Now tell me, who is attached and who is not?"
People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them.
- Epictetus, Stoic philosopher of the 1st century
From the book Love Stories of a different kind
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