Because Of Sandalwood

Because Of Sandalwood

A king and a rich merchant were very good friends. For a long time, the merchant who dealt in Sandalwood was not doing well. The wood being so costly had hardly any takers so business was slow. There was hardly any earning.

One day he noticed that there was termite attacking some of the wood in the store house. He was very upset. He started to rack his brains about how to find a buyer who could buy the wood in bulk.

A thought crossed his mind. If the king were to die, surely sandalwood would be used in large quantities for his pyre. That should solve his problem. Otherwise his trade was doomed.

Interestingly, around the same time, the king was strategizing with his ministers about how to increase the wealth in the coffers. It came to his mind that if the merchant, (who was actually his friend) died, all his riches would come to the treasury, because he had no issue.

A day or two later, the king was meditating and he realised what an evil thought his mind had cooked up. Because he loved his friend so much, he sent for him and told him about his thoughts and apologized for sinning in thought.

The merchant too, then told him about his thoughts, which were around the same time. Both were stunned at each other’s revelation.

The king became very pensive. After a while he said, “My friend, why didn’t you wish that I would buy all your sandalwood to make sandalwood doors for the palace? Or that I should get made a beautiful jhoola for Lord Krishna with intricate carvings from an accomplished Sandalwood artist?”

Isn’t it uncanny? One person thinks ill of another and similar thoughts emerge in the others mind too. It’s like a mirror image. Our thoughts float into the cosmos and reach places. What goes round definitely comes around. If you give love, you get love. If you give goodness, you get back goodness. But if all that you can disperse is bitterness, hatred, negativity … what will you get? You can only gather what you scatter. You get only what you give!

All that we experience in the outside world is only a reaction, reflection and resound of our inner being. We are, however, deluded to think that this reaction, reflection and resound is independent of us. Whatever feeling comes out of your heart and takes a shape outside is the form you see. It means that, that form has already been conceived by you.

We have to learn to keep the mind and the intellect serene and sacred, free from dirt. When thoughts and feelings are impure and agitated, we cannot be calm and happy.

When the mind is polluted, so are our reactions. To keep the mind clean, we must analyse sympathetically situations involving others and their activities, and then decide on how to react to them.