Enlightening in elation and distress

Once there lived a king who desired to wear a special ring with a line inscribed on it that would be enlightening in both happiness and sadness—a reality check each time he read it. However, the king rejected every line presented to him. That’s when one of his advisors suggested the dervish who lived in the faraway village. The dervish was a realised soul, and people flocked to him for solutions to their problems. When the king’s men came over with the request, he smiled.
Many years ago, while travelling, the dervish came to a village where he asked a stranger for a place to stay. The stranger offered his place and even fed him. The next day, when the dervish took leave, the stranger offered food and money. Thanking him for his magnanimity, the dervish praised the Almighty for keeping the stranger affluent. The stranger laughed and said something that baffled the dervish. Many years later, while passing through the same village, the dervish remembered the stranger. On enquiring, he found out that the stranger now lived around the quarry. The dervish was saddened to see his condition. The stranger was worn out, dishevelled, and extremely poor. Remembering the dervish, the stranger welcomed him into his hut as he recounted the events that ravaged his place and forced him to move near the quarry. When the dervish felt sorry for him, the stranger waved his hand and repeated the same words that had perplexed the dervish earlier.
As the king’s men stood before him, the dervish remembered none of the exceptional lines he had earlier uttered to help others all these years. Instead, he repeated the line the stranger said to him twice.
Meanwhile, the king had gone into depression and was not keen on the ceremony of wearing the special ring. However, when he saw the ring, he laughed, perhaps for the first time in months. It seemed he was out of depression. The king told the assembly in the royal court, ‘This is the perfect line during both happiness and sadness.’ Engraved on the ring was the line: ‘This too shall pass!’
May we remember the line—‘This too shall pass’—while passing through periods of joyousness and dejection as they are transient in nature and don’t last forever.

May we remember the line—‘This too shall pass’—while passing through periods of joyousness and dejection as they are transient in nature and don’t last forever.

Rajessh M. Iyer is a storyteller who explores human relationships through meaningful anecdotes, parables, and stories; he shares his work on www.rajesshmiyer.com.