Joy and Sorrow

[Pheena]

There was a Mohammedan king. He was very fond of a particular slave, andthe slave worshipped his master. One day as they were going through a forest the king saw one lone fruit hanging from a tree. The king picked it and as was his habit, he gave some of it to the slave. When the slave tasted it he said,

"Master, give me a little more."

The slave asked for more and more till there was hardly any left for the king. Yet he kept insisting and even tried to snatch what remained from the king’s hands. The king quickly put the remaining bit in his mouth but spat it out immediately.

"Have you gone mad?" he shouted at the slave. "This fruit is poisonous and you stand there smiling at me! Why didn’t you tell me?"

The slave fell at his master’s feet as he said, "The hands that gave me the sweetest of fruits -- should I complain against those hands if they gave me but one bitter fruit?"

Notice that he ignored the fruits, but only took account of the hands. The day this wisdom dawns on you, that it is through His hands alone that

sorrow comes to you, then would you still look upon it as pain? You only know suffering as suffering because you do not see His hand behind it. The day you realize that both joy and sorrow are given by Him, they lose their impact. Then happiness will no longer raise you up nor sorrow produce pain. When joy and sorrow become equal to you, bliss appears to take their place. When the duality of joy and sorrow ceases, the indivisible descends and you are filled with bliss!

Do not hold anyone around you to blame -- neither husband nor wife, neither son nor daughter, neither friend nor foe. Let God be the owner of all responsibility. When joy comes or success, don’t fill your ego. He is master of all success, the owner of any rewards, of all sweet fruits! If you leave everything to Him, joy and sorrow disappear and only bliss will remain.