Emperor and necklace of Queen

Once there lived an emperor of a big empire. He had a beautiful queen whom he loved a lot. The queen had a necklace, which she liked a lot. One day, while taking bath, the queen kept the necklace outside. One crow saw the shining necklace and got attracted towards it. The crow took the necklace and flew away. Guards tried to catch the crow but in vain. When the queen came to know about it, she felt very angry and sad. She complained to the emperor about the incident. The emperor could not see her favorite queen sad at all. He said that he will buy another necklace for her. But the queen was adamant for getting the same necklace. On seeing the strong desire of the queen, the king announced the reward of thousands for the person who will find the necklace. The people of empire did not pay much attention to the announcement. Few days passed, nothing happened. The queen became more sad. The emperor now announced that the reward will be in millions for the person who finds the necklace. Now many people started searching for the necklace. Few days passed, still nobody could find the necklace. The queen became extremely sad. The king announced that the person who would find the necklace of queen will be made the ruler of half empire. Now everybody started searching.

While searching, a man saw the shadow of necklace in the dirty drain on the outskirts of town. He thought that it is actually the necklace and he jumped inside that dirty water. A soldier was also passing nearby. He saw the man jumping inside the drain. He came near and saw the shadow of necklace. He thought that before that man could take the necklace, he should capture it. Thinking this, he also jumped inside the drain. Now many soldiers came and they also jumped inside. The chief of army was also passing from there. He saw many people inside the drain are trying to search something. He looked in the drain and saw the shadow of necklace and he also jumped inside. The emperor was also going from there. He also saw the shadow of necklace. He thought its better if he could get the necklace and save his half empire from getting lost to some stranger. After thinking this, he also jumped inside the dirty drain. Now everyone became puzzled as everyone can see the necklace, but when they try to catch it, it disappears just to reappear again after the ripples settle down.

One scholar saint was standing near the bank. On seeing the situation of all the people, he started laughing loudly. The emperor looked at the saint and said, "Respected saint, why are you laughing?" The saint replied, "Great emperor! I am laughing on the ignorance of all of you. You all are behaving the same way you do while finding truth, peace and happiness. Instead of trying to discover yourself and finding your peace within yourself, you try to find it in the outer world. The same way the necklace which is not actually present there, you are trying to find it in the dirty water. And you all are so much lost in getting the necklace, you don't feel any glitch in getting yourself also dirty in this dirty water. The necklace you are searching is actually hanging on the tree above this pond and none of you needed to jump in this mud and dirt to get the necklace."