There was a millionaire once who was
bothered by two aches, one in his stomach and the other in his head! He
was diagnosed and treated.
He was examined and treated
by a galaxy of medical experts. He consumed heavy loads of drugs, and
underwent centuries of injections. But the aches persisted with greater
vigour than ever before!
At last, a monk arrived at the scene of his
agony. He spoke very kindly to him, and pronounced the fault to be in
his eye! Set right the eye, and the head on top and the stomach below
would both behave very sweetly! To improve the eye, concentrate on only
one colour. Concentrate on green, he suggested. Do not let your eyes
fall on red or yellow, or any other colour.
The rich man got together a group of painters and
purchased barrels of green colour and directed that every object on
which his eye was likely to fall be painted thick green.
Just as the ashtagraha calamity (the
ominous astrological phenomenon of eight heavenly bodies reaching a
straight line in space, which was sought to be avoided by superstitious
persons through ceremonials of exorcism) resulted in a rich harvest
for priests, the millionaire’s malady resulted in a rich harvest for
paint craftsmen.
When the monk came back to him after about ten
days, the craftsmen ran toward him with a bucket of green paint for he
wore a red gown! He wondered why, and got the answer that their master
dare not cast his eye on any colour other than green, lest the aches
may return!
The holy man then reprimanded the patient, and said that he had wasted lakhs of rupees as a result of his monumental stupidity.
“If only you had purchased a pair of green
spectacles, worth perhaps four rupees, you could have saved these walls
and trees and pots and pans, and chairs and sofas and also a pretty
large share of your fortune! You cannot paint the world green.”
(Chinna Katha from the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)
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