Short Story - People Washing Clothes at Lake

Once Teacher was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were trave...

Once Teacher was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Teacher told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there."

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Teacher to drink!" So he came back and told Teacher, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."

After about half an hour, again Teacher asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Teacher.

Teacher looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, "See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."