Short Story - The Real Thirst

ॐ नमो नारायण ! जय श्री कृष्णा 

While teaching and explaining Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, Acharya Shri Shivender Nagar Ji tells beautiful and knowledgeable short stories. These short stories are instrumental in explaining a point in the discussion. The following is one such short story.



This story is by Osho. As I heard it from Acharya Ji, I am not aware of the original title so I named it The Real Thirst. It depicts supreme learning from a simple incident.

It's a 40 - 50 years old story set in India. A Seth Ji सेठ जी  (businessman) was traveling to Rajasthan on a train. On the day of his travel, the weather was extra hot. Due to the Rajasthani desert air and peak summer days of May, the heat was bad. It was a slow-moving train. To make matters worse the train stopped at every random station it can find.

On such a hot day, a glass of cold water was God's blessing and short in supply. Hawkers used to sell water to train passengers on the railway platform for 50 paise a glass. They used to carry a Surahi सुराही (Jug) to keep the water cold.

Seth Ji noticed a young hawker waterboy yelling "Coldwater 50 paise Glass !!". 

Seth Ji waved his hand and the waterboy ran towards him. As he reached towards Seth Ji, the water boy poured water from his Surahi in a glass. And looked towards Seth Ji.

Seth Ji asked him "How much for a glass of water ??"
"50 paise Seth Ji" the waterboy replied politely.
To which Seth Ji said, "Will you give it for 25 paise ??".
The waterboy didn't reply. 

Agitated Seth Ji asked again, "Will you give it for 25 paise or not ??".

For a moment the waterboy looked at Seth Ji with a smirk. Then he poured the water from the glass back in his Surahi. 

While putting the unused glass back in his bag, the waterboy said: "Seth Ji, it seems like you aren't thirsty yet".

He then left the spot to find new customers yelling "Coldwater 50 paise Glass !!". Leaving stunned Seth Ji behind.


Teachings of the Story: Acharya Ji suggests that this story has the highest learnings of Vedanta. He uses this story numerous times to explain the following points.

• The real need isn't high or there yet: If someone isn't paying required attention towards something or missing the real zeal to finish a task. Then we can conclude that the real need for the requirement isn't there yet. The sadhak साधक (seeker) needs to wait for the need to be generated properly
  
  
• The time isn't yet arrived. Adding to the above point may be due to various reasons there is a delay in fulfilling the need. Like, a job seeker needs to wait for the right opportunity. So, the sadhak needs to wait for the right time.
  
  
• One will never bargain if he is really thirsty: If the sadhak (seeker) is really thirsty for knowledge, he will not get into anything else, and ocean of KNowledge like ShriMad Baahgwat Geeta will quench his thirst.
  
• More to come...