GETTING WHAT YOU WANT AND OTHER DIFFICULTIES

I once knew a very strong willed German man who had practiced a type of mind control for a long time. After many years of such practice and discipline, he found there began to manifest in his life many of the objects of his desire. Once he desired and wished for a large sum of money and it was given to him.

Shortly afterwards, he learned that the money had been gotten illegally. He gave it back, but this experience made him realize that he could not see or envision every aspect of a situation.

There are two things we must take into account here.

One, is that the very nature of life itself is made up of opposites. We cannot have up without down, good without bad or happiness without sadness. We must remember that bliss, or ananda as it is called in the Indian tradition, transcends both happiness and sadness, right and wrong, good and bad. So, the very 'things' that the mind can imagine are by their very nature composed of opposite qualities. Inherent in the conception of peace is the conception of war.

The second, is that the individual mind, as considered in the East and contrary to what people like to think in the West, is limited in its imagination- We cannot envision every aspect of a thing, anymore than we can envision every aspect of the digestion of our food or the beating of our heart with our imagination. And, if we cannot imagine a thing or situation, we cannot see it or think it; And, whatever we cannot see or imagine, according to Carl Jung, will seem to happen to us as the result of an exterior or superior force, or what is often been referred to as fate or God or the Devil.

The Indian culture believed that an enlightened person was also possessed of miraculous power or siddhis. Among them was the power to manifest whatever one desired. (This was one reason that the Hindu's, when hearing of the miracles of Jesus, took him as a foreign version of one of their own, an Avatar or God-Man-when he raised the dead or cured the sick.) It was also believed in India, that even outside of Spiritual Realization, that there are various ascetic practices which can bring about such extraordinary powers or "siddhis".

One can read about these in the ancient tales of the Puranas such as the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. Even today, throughout India, we still find a rare few who engage in extreme 'tapas' or austerity (such as holding ones hand up in the air for twelve years or standing on one foot for twelve years) to gain siddhis.

But siddhis when attained for their own sake, independent of Spiritual Realization were traditionally warned against as dangerous. Why was this so? Because, in the state of Realization the mind is no longer driven by small minded personal desires. To have siddhis directed by a limited mind and vision was considered to be dangerous at the least. To attain siddhis through sheer willpower by ascetic practice, which they consider possible, or to attain siddhis by "luck", is to court disaster.

The ideas of controlling ones destiny and the idea of fate have been considered for thousands of years in India. When they are considered up against the power or 'siddhi' to manifest ones desires, they seem to be contradictory ideas- One( controlling our destiny by the will) places our life within our control, the other(fate) outside our control. The story I relate below considers and lends insight to this dilemma and paradox.

This story from the Indian tradtion, illustrates the power or siddhi of having one's thoughts and desires fulfilled immediately. It is about the potential power of the mind to manifest whatever it desires and it shows that this power to manifest whatever one imagines, is not all that it seems to be . . . it is more, much more.

Its called,

The Wish-Fulfilling Tree

A story about a wondrous tree and an ordinary man.

The man is ordinary, but a very 'lucky' man; The tree is most extraordinary and wondrous. . . it is the Kalpataru tree, the Wishfulfilling tree, the legendary tree that grants all the desires of those who chance to sit beneath its branches:

Once a man, a woodcutter, went off into the forest to cut some wood. On this particular day he went deeper into the forest and further than he had ever gone before. As he walked, the sun rose higher and higher in the sky and the day grew very hot. At last he saw a tree that spread its beautiful branches in perfect grace and he went to rest himself in its shade. He put down his ax and sat wearily against the tree.

"Whewwww," said the woodcutter as he began to relax. "It sure is hot today", and it was hot.

"I wish I had some cold, clear water to drink," he thought to himself. . .and immediately there was water. . . cold and clear, exactly as he imagined it, even in a clay cup like he had envisioned.

Now the woodcutter was amazed. "Where has this water come from?", He thought to himself . . . And it was revealed to him immediately. . . He was sitting underneath the Wishfulfilling tree! Whatever he wished for, indeed, whatever he even imagined would immediately come to pass.

Right away, he wished that his wife was here to share in his good fortune. . . and she was there. He told her all about the wondrous grace that had befallen him and he continued to wish and desire.

He wished for a beautiful castle where all sorts of dancing girls, peacocks, elephants and attendants appeared. . . and it came to pass. He enjoyed it all. He wished for beautiful music like he had once heard as a child and had thought 'this must be heaven'. . . and it was like heaven. He enjoyed it all.

There was exquisite food and drinks of ambrosia. He wished for wealth and money to be brought before him. . . and it was done so. He enjoyed it all. He wished that all his friends might share with him this happiness and they were there, rejoicing with him in his fortune. . . And they came and had a splendid night of celebration, dancing and talking and laughing. He enjoyed it all. It grew late and fatigue came upon him. He retired to his beautiful bedchambers for a bath. After the most sensual bath, given by beautiful young maidens, (he was a guy after all), he went to his bed. It was a splendid, magnificent bed that looked out at arbors of jasmine and moonlight. He reached out and held his wife and they looked deep into each other's eyes and there was love between them and they made sweet love together and he was happy.

And as he lay there before drifting off to sleep, he thought to himself, "This is so, so beautiful, so wonderful, so glorious. What if a terrible tiger came and ate me?" And a terrible tiger did come and ate him . . . . . . And it was so.