Once In a village lived a poor woodcutter who would go to the forest every day to cut wood and then sell it in the market. His income was very low.

A monk and a woodcutter story
One day when he was cutting wood in a forest he saw a monk, who was meditating. He went near to the monk and sat in front of him. After some time when the monk opened his eyes, the woodcutter asked him, O wise one, i am very poor. Please give me some solution to my problem.”
A monk and a woodcutter story

Monk replied, “Go forward.”

Woodcutter believed in the words of the monk and started walking forward. After some time, he reached a sandalwood forest.
Woodcutter became very happy. Now, he started selling sandalwood in the market, and soon he became rich.
One day, in days of happiness; he thought, “Monk told me to go ahead and I found a forest of sandalwood, I must go to him once again. Maybe he can guide me to something more precious.”
Thinking this; the woodcutter went to the forest to meet the monk. The monk was sitting immersed in meditation. After some time when he opened his eyes, the woodcutter asked him. He said, O wise one, by your grace I found sandalwood forest. Please give me some more advice. The monk again replied,” Go forward.”

A monk and a woodcutter story

The woodcutter went ahead with the advice of the monk. Going a little further, he found a gold mine. Now Woodcutter became wealthier after getting gold from mines.

Now he became a rich person. He was living his life happily. After some time, again woodcutter thought about a monk and went to the forest to see him. Monk was sitting peacefully in meditation. He again asked the same question to the monk. And Monk again replied.” Move forward” The woodcutter went ahead with the advice of the monk. Now, he found diamonds, rubies, and pearls. He became very rich and prosperous. He was living life with all the luxuries. But one day woodcutter thought; “Monk knew so much; he could have been wealthy but still he didn’t use any of these precious things, why?” Woodcutter couldn’t think of any reason and at last, he decided to visit the monk once again. So again he went to the forest to meet him. When he met the monk; he said, “O wise one, you told me to go forward and told me the address to wealth and prosperity. But I have a question, please tell me why don’t you become rich by having these things yourself ” At this, the monk replied, “What you are saying is correct but i have gone further. further than diamonds and rubies. Going forward I have found such a pleasure that compared to these diamonds and rubies feels equal to mud and clay. I have found that special thing.” Woodcutter got curious and asked, “What’s that?” Monk smiled and replied, I have found inner happiness which I have found through meditation ” And in comparison to inner happiness, even the biggest pleasures of the world become insignificant.

Hearing this, the woodcutter fell at the feet of the monk and said, “How foolish person I am, you have a wealth of inner treasure and I kept asking you for pebbles. Kindly tell me how can I find this inner happiness, I don’t know how to meditate, please guide me.
The monk said it is very easy to meditate, just sit down comfortably and start observing what is going on inside your mind. If there is an experience, don’t hold on to it, let it come and go. Keep witnessing your thoughts until your thoughts calm down completely. When there is no experience, no thoughts, then you will be in a state of meditation. Then there will be neither the sight nor the seer. Then there will be only a zero and in that void of zero the lamp of realization burns.

On hearing this from the monk, the woodcutter understood that the true happiness is not in the outer wealth and comforts, but True happiness is within us, we just need to find it.

Moral:

If we see at our life we will find that We spend our whole life earning outside wealth. But we forget how much treasure lies inside us. We never try to turn inward and find it. We spend our whole life in search of happiness but we do not know that the ocean of happiness is waving inside us. Meditation is the mean by which we can find this treasure of happiness within us. Therefore we all should take some time out every day to practice meditation. This will not happen all at once.

For this, you will have to practice a little bit every day. day by day. And then there will come a time when you will not have to try to meditate, but meditation will start to happen spontaneously. You just need to keep patience.