“Removal of ignorance is like this, Oh Arjuna, if dream and sleep disappear, you are yourself. It is like that” –Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. XXXIX, L.
A poor man and his wife remained childless for several years after their marriage. At last, a son was born to them, and their joy knew no bounds. He was truly the apple of their eyes.
All of a sudden, the boy fell seriously ill. The parents did everything they could to treat him and cure him. Every last penny they had, was spent on him – but to no avail. His illness could not even be diagnosed, and the child died.
The mother was overwrought with grief. She wept and wailed in profound misery. The father, however, remained calm.
“How can you be so indifferent?” wept his wife. “Don’t you feel miserable at the loss of our only child?”
“Last night, I had dream,” her husband replied. “I dreamt that I was a king, and a proud father of five handsome princes – wise, well-behaved, bright. All the five were killed on the same day in a war, as they tried to save their country.”
The poor man asked his wife gently, “Tell me, for I am puzzled. Should I grieve over the death of my princes whom I lost in my dream, or for the one I have lost here, in this life?”
How true it is that this life is a dream. Only a few blessed ones who realize the Truth awake from this dream.
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