Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), as we begin today ‘let us remember this about ‘Attention’.
Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.
This week I bring to your attention yet another tale, which is extracted from an interesting and thought provoking work, titled ‘Caravan of Dreams’ compiled by Idries Shah.
The Chests of Gold
Once upon a time there was a rich merchant who went away on a long journey, leaving his steward in charge of his money.
A Crafty and dishonest man overheard him say to the steward:
‘You are in sole charge. I have in my strong-room a hundred chests of gold. In each chest there are a hundred gold pieces. Guard them well until I return.’
The crafty man scraped up an acquaintanceship with the steward, and they often used to sit drinking coffee together.
One day the crafty man said: ‘I am something of an alchemist. If I can get one gold piece, I can double it, so that it becomes two.
At first the steward did not believe him; but after a time he was tempted to make a test, using some of his employer’s money.
You only borrow it, said the crafty man, ‘and you keep it in your own hands, here in the coffee-house. If it does not multiply, what can you lose?’
Eventually the steward agreed.
He took one gold piece from his master’s hoard and put it in a cunningly-contrived box which the ‘alchemist’ supplied. When they opened the lid, there were two pieces inside.
Thus encouraged, and being presented with the extra piece as a gift, the steward asked the alchemist if he could repeat the process.
‘Certainly, ‘said the crafty man, ‘but there are certain rules. First you must take only one coin from each box of coins that you have, however many that may be. Bring them here.’
The steward did as he was told, and one by one, the hundred coins became two hundred.
‘Now for the next rule,’ said the crafty man; and that is: you must not replace “doubled coins” in the same box. Get another box and put the two hundred in that. Then spend from the new box until your own hundred are finished. This will leave your master’s capital untouched, and you will have gained one hundred pieces of gold.
“The steward did as he was told. He started to spend his own share and, sure enough, he found that the ‘doubled’ pieces were real gold, accepted without question in the shops.
He had never had so much money in his life, and he spent a lot of it on drink and other personal indulgences, encouraged by the “alchemist’ who told him: ‘As soon as that hundred is
finished, tell me, and we will be able to repeat the process but not before.’
When the time came for the merchant’s return, the steward was well addicted to drink. The merchant, when he saw him, said: What kind of a steward are you? I suppose that you have
spent my money on yourself?’
‘On the contrary, mumbled the steward, I have multiplied it’ The merchant ran to his hoard, but there did not seem to be anything missing, so far as he could see.
At that moment the crafty man appeared on the scene and said to the merchant: ‘Give me the money that you have been keeping for me!’
What money? said the merchant; ‘I have never seen you before in my life.
Such an argument started that the police were called, and they carried the pair to the court of summary judgment.
This man has my money, which he was keeping for me, said the thief to the judge.
How much do you say it is?’ said the judge.
Nine thousand, nine hundred and fifty gold pieces; ninety-nine to a chest, one chest with only fifty pieces in it,’ said the crafty man, who had been keeping count of what the steward spent.
‘That is a lie and I can prove it!’ said the merchant. ‘I had a hundred boxes with a hundred pieces in each, which I left with my steward. There is either that amount left, which is 10,000 gold pieces in all; or something less than that, if the steward has been robbing me. There cannot be the number that this man says.
An order was made by the court to inspect the gold. It was found to tally exactly with the thief’s story. The steward was regarded as bereft of his reason by alcoholism and could not
be admitted as a witness. The court awarded the whole of the money to the crafty man, who became a popular and respected citizen.
Caravan of Dreams – Idries Shah
I hope you enjoy reading this compilation and find it thought provoking too. You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:
As I conclude today’s episode;
I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from a monumental work ‘Kalila wa Dimna’, which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”.
My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.
Excerpt from Doctor’s orders: Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood
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