There once was a princess who was dying of thirst… a thirst for the greatest love imaginable. She was the fairest princess and her heart was the driest of all the hearts in the human kingdoms of the world.
Every prince that came to offer his hand she denied, for she never was convinced of their unbroken love. She saw in them momentary flashes and reflections of what love was and she desired that which was unending. An unending love cannot merely be these bodies in which we live in, she pondered often to herself. An unending love cannot merely be the momentary physical contacts between man and woman. An unending love cannot only be the fulfilling of my carnal desires.
She was torn inside of herself and she found no comfort in the company of other people, she wanted to be in love forever with whatever could offer her eternal love. As her insightful eyes were keen as they come she knew instantly when any so called love appeared in her life. She thought to herself that if something appears that it also has to disappear. And even if the god of love himself came down to her and offered himself to me, he would eventually be replaced by absence, because no one and nothing can escape the hands of time.
So she continued her contemplations and came to the realization that whatever appears must disappear, and if I’m searching for that eternal love, it has to be here now and it has to be with me as long as I can remember.
So in this very introspective looking she was blessed with the great dawning. The great dawning that only happens every now and then in the human realm. This princess found her love in her heart and was set free forever. She was at oneness with her lover, so much so that there were no distinctions between her and whatever it was. She was absorbed and dissolved in that eternal love which she so much longed for. It was her wedding day and it was her eternal night in the golden bridal chamber. She was in the purest ecstasy and bliss. She was no more separate from anything, she was free from all misery and all fear. She was free from all hope and all longing. She was free from all joys and all pains. Her place was with the beloved, and she was eternally happy.
Morals of the Story
- Some wise ones realize that all is fleeting and ever-changing, as the Buddha teached 2500 years ago, and if we get attached to these fleeting things we are essentially “suffering our experiencing” as Nisargadatta Maharaj once said. To find within you that which is unchanging and ever-present is that which will fulfill you.
- The realization of truth, the mystical experience, the great dawning, nirvana or whatever you want to call it, has to arise from an intense introspection into what and who you are. I have a hard time seeing how anyone attained self-realization through any other way than looking within.
Daniel Seeker is a wandering dervish and lifelong student of the past, present and future. He realized that he was made of immaculate and timeless consciousness when meditating in his hermit cave on the island of Gotland. His writings are mostly a reflection of that realizaton. Daniel currently studies history, philosophy, egyptology and western esotericism at Uppsala Universitet. He’s also currently writing his B.A. thesis in history which explores how Buddhist and Hindu texts were first properly translated and introduced to the western world in the late 18th and 19th century.