How far is enlightenment

Let me tell a story. Once I lived in a beautiful city. I was leading a wonderful life in my beautiful home and had a job of my dreams. Suddenly, I came to know that I had to relocate to another city leaving back all my belongings there. I didn't have a home in the other city and the job was also not so good. I was bombarded with thousands of thoughts. Oh! I loved my job. I was touching skies there. I will never see my friends again. Suddenly the whole life would change. What about my belongings. I couldn't carry them along. Why did this all happen? I was miserable.

Just then an idea came. I closed my eyes - "Well, what will happen if I die right at this moment?" There was a balloon filled with all these thoughts. It was like a dark heavy cloud filled with worries of my belongings, my reputation, and my attachments. You know what, that dark cloud was me. "Noo! I don't want to die like that." Too scared, I opened my eyes.

"Woof, I will anyways lose all these things if I die right now. But I am just moving to another location and I can carry some of my belongings along as well. So, it's not that bad. Ahh!" I felt much better. A small idea, a thought, totally changed the state of my mind.

In a flash of a moment, I realized how far I was to that constant state of peace, probably called enlightenment. It is always just a cloud away. The cloud of thoughts. In that very instance, my heavy dark cloud of thoughts had turned into a light blue cloud with the help of another thought. But it is not the same always. The clouds are ever floating and really cannot be measured. We have to go beyond these thoughts and reach the peaceful state and stay there. Until then, the density of these clouds cannot be measured.

But I wonder who control these thoughts. Or, can they be controlled at all? Definitely, our actions and emotions are driven by thoughts but who is driving the thoughts. How many times have you felt that before the song started on radio, you started humming it? Was the song in the air already and your mind just tunned to it before the radio could. Would that mean that our frequency analyzer is better than that of the radio! The thoughts are also just floating like that song in the space around us. And we keep catching on to them randomly. The thoughts can simply pass by, like clouds, but amazing is our potential to hang on to them. We can make our lives miserable or happy based on our talent of holding on to the thoughts. The more talented we are, more miserable our lives can be. But blessed are those who can just watch the thoughts passing by and enjoy them as they would enjoy listening to a song.

The perfect alliance

Once there was a learned man who rightfully earned great respect in a mighty king's court. He had risen from ashes into an intellectual scholar with his self-effort. He had written numerous wisdom books and was known for his wit and humor. Still, he lacked something. Somebody advised him the perfect alliance is what he needed, that if he finds a perfected man, he can attain everything. 

He turned himself into a beautiful damsel with roving eyes, looking around for the perfected man. However, she fell into the pit of youth and beauty. She roamed around with many men, flattering them in the beginning and rejecting later. Though the captivating eyes, the lilac soft lips, the plump and botox-boosted face, the hourglass figure attracted many men but the high conscious in her could not be satisfied. 

So, she changed her personality into a mesmerizing woman with deep kohl-black eyes and midnight-black hairs flowing through her shoulders. Now, she had a saffron tint to her complexion. This elegant lady had dulcent sweet voice and started looking for a learned spiritual man. To her surprise, she found one elevated man this time and got married to him, dreaming of a full filling life ahead. But strange are the ways of the world. The man had higher goals of attaining truth. What irony! This was actually the eligibility criteria set by the lady for him to be her husband. However, the man thought his wife as an obstacle to his spiritual journey. So, one auspicious Brahma muhurata, he moved on to his journey, leaving his newlywed wife behind. The lady kept weeping and waiting for his man. Her near and dear ones advised her to remarry and move on. But when has a strong headed person listened to others! 

The next life she decided to forget about the alliance and follow her heart. And thus her good luck began. In midst of her happy family life, she found a Guru. She connected instantly and rejoiced in the divine love. She started enjoying the somersaults in Guru's grace, just like a baby does in mother's womb. The void in her started filling with devotion. Then one day the defining moment came which was worth thousand lives. She closed her eyes and felt the presence of her master. Now, she realized that he was the one she was looking for. She finally found the perfected soul. Oh! what deep satisfaction it is. The Bliss and the Love drenched her fully. Either she or the Guru was dissolved in the Bliss. Only one remained. Was that her? She opened her eyes and yes she existed. It was only her she was looking for - the perfected soul or the perfect alliance!