Happiness- A positive emotion :)

A little story


Once upon a time there lived a beggar outside the premises of a palace. One day he read a poster on the palace gate.The poster carried an invitation to people to join the royal feast, offered by the King and only those who came in royal attire will be allowed inside the palace.

He looked at himself from top to bottom. He was dressed up in dirty ragged clothes.
Suddenly a thought stuck him. He knew that only the King and his kin possess royal clothes and he planned to visit the palace.

Though he feared he didn't want to give up on his decision to visit the palace. He pleaded the Palace guard at the gate to let him meet the King. Finally the beggar got to meet the King.
The beggar greeted the King & said that he wished to take part in the royal feast and thereby wants the King to lend him his old royal attire. The beggar conveyed this in a very polite manner.
He gazed at the King out of fear unknowing what the King's reply would be.

The King yielded to his request and gave him one of his royal attire. The beggar happily wore it and looked at himself in the mirror and admired the royalty & grandiosity of his new attire.
The King assured him that, he was eligible to attend the feast in his palace. He also told him that this royal attire had a specialty. There was no need for him, to wash or clean the cloth as it would remain new throughout his entire life time.

The beggar with his eyes & heart filled with gratitude thanked the King & walked out.
He saw his old ragged clothes lying in a corner. Suddenly a thought stuck him. He doubted the King. He thought he should carry his old clothes too along with him as it might help him suppose his new royal attire gets torn or worn out.

As he did not have a house the beggar could not keep his old cloths in a place. He carried them in a gunny bag on his shoulder everywhere he went.
During the royal feast he could not enjoy, due to the inconvenience the gunny bag caused. His old clothes dropped down from his shoulder often & he had to gather & carry them again.
As days went by the beggar realized what the King told him was true. His new clothes didn't need washing nor cleaning. But he was unwilling to leave his old clothes & carried it with him.
The passers by didn't notice his royal attire because his gunny bag with old ragged clothes caught their attention. They named him " raggy old saint ".

The beggar turned old & weak and was in the last stages of his life. When he was in his death bed the King came to see him. The King found the beggar's ragged clothes lying next to his head & felt sad for him. The beggar looked at the King and recollected what the King told him when he gifted him the royal attire.Not having listened to the King, robbed him of all his happiness in life.

Similar to this man (the beggar) we too have a gunny bag.
A bag of hatred, anger, worry, sadness, enmity......& other unwanted elements. We are so focused on protecting them. Thereby unable to experience the happiness life offers.The anger which we carry does not allow us to enjoy the pleasantness around us. In spite of staying in Bungalows, some of us live life like beggars.On the other end there are people who don't have a house, but live life like a King.
Happiness lies in our heart. Life offers us new woven clothes every day.

We don't need reasons to be happy.
Let us celebrate life with happiness
.
(  Source: Story translated  from 'Padithadhil Pidithadhu' (Tamil)).

Swathi Priya. P
Counselling Psychologist

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