Walking on The Path of Knowledge

One person always used to attend the discourses of Gautam Buddha and listened to his speeches with great dedication. Buddha always used to encourage people to attain self-knowledge and be free from lust, attachment, anger, self-ego, hatred etc in his discourses. Once the person came to meet Gautam Buddha and said, "I have been continuously attending your discourses from many days. But, I am sorry to say that there has been no improvement in me. What is the reason behind it? Is there any shortcoming within me?"

Gautam Buddha started smiling and asked the person, "Where do you live?" The person said, "I live in Shrawasti." Buddha then asked, "How far is Shrawasti from here." The man told him the distance. Buddha then asked him, "How do you reach there?" The man replied, "I sometimes travel using horse-cart and sometimes using oxen-carts." Buddha then said, "If you only sit here and discuss everything about Shrawasti here only, then will you and I reach to your home?" The man was surprised to hear this and replied, "How is it possible? Just by discussing or listening, how can I or you reach to my home. We have to travel to reach my home."

Gautam Buddha smiled to hear this and said, "This is the answer of what you asked earlier. One has to travel to reach the required destination. The same way, you will have to follow the words I discuss in my discourses to have any impact on your life. Any knowledge is meaningful only if it is implemented in the life. You will have to walk on the path of knowledge to reach the destination your heart wishes for. Only listening to good words or studying any spiritual speech will not have any impact on you or even me."

The person understood and said, "I understood your message. From now onwards, I will follow your words and implement them in my life."