Get rid of your shackles first

Three friends were drinking in the evening at the outskirts of a small village. After drinking for a while, they were walking towards the village that was on the bank of a huge lake. While pointing at a boat anchored on the bank of the lake, one of the friends said, “My dear friends, it has been a while since we went on a boat together. Let’s go for a small ride like we used to do in the olden days.”

Everyone agreed and they all jumped on the boat. They kept rowing the boat into the darkness of the night. After a while, they got tired and one of them said,” It seems we have come quiet far and are getting tired now. I think we should return now or else we will get lost in the lake.”

The other one said, “Since we are tired, let’s rest for a few hours and then we will go back.”

They rested for a while and by that time sun came out. When they woke up, they were all very surprised and started laughing at their situation. In their drunken state the night before, they had forgotten to remove the boat’s anchor, so their boat was still anchored at the same spot. They put all their energy into rowing for hours, however, they didn’t move forward at all.

The truly blissful ones say that the story of the modern society is the same. Under the influence of worldly desires, we keep thinking that we are moving closer to the real happiness. But we remain at the same spot – unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Even the story of the spiritual seekers is the same – while tied with the old shackles of old mindset, religious rituals and old dogmas, we keep trying different methods and different paths. But we never let go of our old mindset. We all should let go of all of our past teachings,  past ideas, cultural and social testaments, and then only our spiritual journey towards the long lasting inner happiness will begin.