King and the Sage

Once upon a time a brave king ruled in the northern part of India. He was also kind and a just king who revered intelligent humans. He would seek advice from the wise and rule his kingdom aptly. Once an old sage visited his palace as a guest. He asked the old guru to reveal the formula to survive the worst of the time, if it ever be-felled on him. The old sage wrote something on a piece of paper, folded and sealed it. Handing over, he said, "keep this very close to you at all times. Only when you face a situation that is beyond you or when nothing else works and all is lost, then only open this and follow the formula." After saying this, the sage left for his journey.

Years went by and the worst situation had never arrived. But fate was not so kind to him. In a war with an enemy ruler he was badly defeated and severely wounded. He had no choice but to escape from being captured and killed. Far away from the battlefield he rested and was enveloped in complete despair. He felt like dying but couldn't, when he thought of his people who had faith in him. He could not let his citizens down. He was torn between his love for his people and the shame he felt at his defeat.

Suddenly he remembered the formula the sage had given. What better time than this for its use, he thought. When he broke the seal, he found to his dismay only three words- 'THIS WILL PASS'. "What," he thought, "how is this going to save me?" he felt let down, but managed to reach his kingdom in time. A couple of years went by, the king had recovered and had managed to save his kingdom and its glory. The same old sage re-visited him.

"Tell me honorable sir, why did you write those words- this will pass?", asked the king.
"Did you not recover from your despair, O king!!", replied the sage
The king answered, "Yes i did?"
"Well then it means that if good times pass by, so does the worst. You just need to be patient and have faith in yourself," spoke the old sage.

Moral: Time stops for nothing or nobody. IT WILL PASS!

NOTE: This story is not my original post. It was taken from one of the members (Dhara Kothari) with her permission to be posted on blog.