There is a marvellous story in the Upanishads of India.
I won’t go into it because it is a very good story,
we have got very little time.
You want to go into it, that story?
Of course, of course.
Anything to divert us, move away from ourselves!
A Brahmana
– you know what a Brahmana is? Of course –
in India, in the ancient days,
was giving away everything he had.
It used to be an old tradition
that when you have gathered some things for five years,
through work – all that –
after five years you must give everything away
– you understand?
Do it!
Which means, never gather anything
– right? –
so that you have nothing to give away.
He is giving away his cattle, his house, various things,
and he has a son.
The son comes to him and says,
‘Father,
you are giving away everything,
to whom you are going to give me?
And the father says,
‘Please, go away, you’re too childish, don’t ask this question’.
But the boy comes back several times,
and ultimately he says,
‘Father, tell me, to whom are you going to give me?’
The father by now is very angry
and says, ‘I am going to send you to death’.
And being a Brahmana, he must keep his word.
So he sends the boy away.
That’s the fourth train – third, fourth.
So the boy goes from one teacher to another
on the way to death.
One guru, one teacher says, ‘You live after death.
Through many lives you ultimately come to the highest principle’.
And he goes to another teacher and says,
‘I am going to the house of death, what is thereafter?’
‘There is nothing after. This is annihilation’.
So he goes on and ultimately arrives at the house of death.
And when he arrives, death is absent.
You understand this?
See the beauty of it, sir. You understand?
Death is absent, so he waits for three days.
So on the third day death comes and says,
‘As you are a Brahmana, I apologise for keeping you waiting.
And since you have come this long distance,
I give you, I offer anything you like.
Women, palaces, wealth – anything you want’.
And the boy says,
‘I may have all those,
but at the end of it I will meet you’.
Right?
‘You will always be there,
whatever gifts you give me, you will always be there’.
And death says, ‘You are a marvellous person
to avoid all this and seeking truth’.
So he goes into the question
– I have not read the story myself, people have told it to me –
he goes into the question of time, self, and the ending of the self.
You understand?
That is the story. Sorry it peters out!
But that is the story.
So we are asking:
can we give away anything that we hold dear?