Ancient story of a Wise King - Osho

I am reminded of a small story,

 

an ancient story of a wise king who used to go on a round of the

capital in the middle of the night in disguise to see whether things were going as they should or not.

He was always puzzled, because one naked young man used to stand under a tree, even in the

middle of the night. He went at different times in the night but the man was always standing there,

alert. The king was puzzled: what is he doing? One day he went to him and asked, ”What is your

trouble? Why do you go on standing here naked in the cold night?”

 

The man said, ”I have a certain treasure that needs constant watchfulness. I cannot be unconscious

even for a single moment, it is too risky.”

 

The king asked, ”Where is your treasure?”

 

The man laughed. He said, ”You will not understand. My treasure is within me. And the more I am

aware – whether it is day or night – the deeper I am reaching into myself.”

 

It was for the first time the king saw the man so closely – a beautiful man with magnetic eyes, with

an invisible aura. The king was touched. He said, ”I have always been thinking of finding a master

but I never found one. I cannot leave you. I invite you to come with me to the palace. You will have

all that you need. But why stand? – that does not suit the master of the king. From this moment you

are the master of the king.”

 

The man said, ”Of course!” And he jumped on the king’s horse and asked the king to walk by his

side: ”Let us go to the palace.”

 

The king said, ”This man seems to be something!” – naked, he was sitting on the horse, and the

king had to walk for the first time in his life.... ”And what will the guards of the palace say when they

see us?”

 

But the man said, ”You don’t be worried about the guards or your wife or your children; nobody can

interfere. I will declare myself: I am your master.”

 

The king started having doubts: ”This man, whom I thought has renounced the world, is standing

naked for many days... and he has said yes so willingly. Not only has he said yes, he immediately

jumped on my horse!”

 

In the palace he was given the best room, all the best facilities – better than the king. He made

it a point, that ”I am the master of the king, and it will be insulting to the king that the master has

something less than the king.” The king gave everything that was needed and he lived in immense

luxury.

The king thought, ”I have been deceived. This man is not a real saint, he is a con man. He was

standing there naked just to befool me, and he befooled me. But how to get rid of this man?”

 

Six months passed. But the king was a cultured man; he could not say, ”You have cheated me.” But

one day while walking on the lawn of the palace with the master, the king said, ”It is strange, but

a doubt sometimes arises in me. You were standing naked under the tree.... You have renounced

everything of the world and now you are living in royal luxury. The question that arises in me is this:

Now what is the difference between me and you?”

 

The young man said, ”The difference? You will have to come with me. At the right moment, at the

right place, I will give you the answer.”

 

The king and the master both went on horses. When they reached the border of the kingdom the

king said, ”This is the border. Now we are entering into another’s kingdom, and that is not right for

me. What is your answer?”

 

He said, ”My answer is this: this is your horse, these are your clothes. Take them home, I am going

– this is the difference. You have a kingdom, I don’t have a kingdom. Wherever I live, there is my

kingdom.”

 

The king was shocked, but he thought that he had misjudged the man. He fell at his feet and he

said, ”Forgive me, I misjudged you.”

 

The man said, ”You simply get up on your horse and return to the palace, because I am such a

simple man.... I can again put on the dress, and the horse is waiting and I can come back – and the

doubt will again come into your mind. I don’t want to create any doubt. You simply take both horses

and these clothes. Naked I was, naked I am – and there are so many trees, I can stand anywhere.”

The king tried hard to convince him but the man said, ”I can come, there is no trouble; but I know

your mind, and it is not.... You are being a liar. It is not that the doubt has just arisen now; it had

arisen at the very moment I jumped on your horse that night six months ago.

 

”To me it makes no difference: I was as silent and peaceful, as centered, as balanced in myself

under the tree as in your palace. The atmosphere, the environment around me makes no difference

at all. Wherever I am, there is my kingdom.”

 

-OSHO (OSHO Upanishad).

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