A monk was spending the night by a fire, when a beggar approached and asked if he could sit by the fire until he got warm. The monk not only agreed, but invited him to spend the night, and gave him half his dinner as well. Read More…
The next morning, when the monk insisted that the beggar eat the last remaining food, the beggar transformed into the god Shiva, who was traveling the earth at that time in that disguise and said; “ Since you were so kind to me last night and this morning I will grant you one wish.”
The monk overwhelmed, timidly asked, “would you answer any question I asked?”
“Anything you like,” replied Shiva.
The monk, after taking a few minutes to think said, “I would like to know how long it will take me to achieve enlightenment?”
Shiva hesitated for a while, then pointed to a very large and spreading banyan tree, filled with thousands of leaves. Sadly he said, “If every leaf on that tree represented a lifetime that’s how long it will take you to achieve enlightenment.”
Hearing that, the monk fell to his knees and began to weep tears of joy, thanking Shiva for giving him such wonderful news.
Shiva, astonished, said, “I don’t understand, every time in the past that I had to answer that question the results were devastating, and the person went away sad and depressed. Why are you so happy?”
The monk looked up at Shiva with a glowing face and replied, “for such a precious thing—such a short time.”