The rich man who could not be peaceful in his life begged the master ‘’Please, help me! What must I do in order to become enlightened?’’

‘’Unfortunately’’ said the wise man ‘’It is too late, because I can see that death is approaching you rapidly. Your life time left  is only 10 days long.  If, somehow  you find out that I have been mistaken, then come to me again.’’

It was vey hard  for the poor man to believe in what he had heard and he returned home very upset and confused.  When his wife asked ‘’What happenned? Why are you so unhappy?’’,  the man answered with great regret  ‘’Today, I have learned that I am going to die within 10 days and I do not know what to do in order to  correct my mistakes and my sins.’’

Just at that moment his financial consultant appeared at the door and said ‘’Sir, I could not charge the  money from so and so. The man is insisting on not paying his debt. I think the right solution would be to take the matter to the court.’’

After thinking for a while the man said ‘’Don’t worry and forget it. I have plenty of money.  Otherwise, how could I have lend him that money. Tell him that I have cancelled his debt and tell him to enjoy that money.’’    The financial consultant was astonished as his boss never made compromises in money matters, so  so he did not know what to say and think and he left the house.

Then, the man visited all of his past friends with whom he had been cross for years and pleased them. He could even succeed to shake hands with his enemies and made peace with them.  Following this he donnated a large amount of his wealth to the charity organisations and just a few days before the expected time of   his death he invited the represantatives of all the religions and asked them to read him passages from the holy books.  Finally, when the last day had come he started to meditate and wait for the death in deep resignation (putting his trust to god).

Meanwhile, all the people were talking about him; everybody was saying that he was such a loving and a generous person and the newspapers were writing very good things about him as well.   On the morning of  the eleventh day when the man saw that he was still living he went to the master and asked the reason why he did not die?

The master answered ‘’you had requested me to teach you the secret of becoming enlightened...’’

The man said ‘’I am sorry I couldn’t understand I think that you haven’t thought me anything!’’

The master said smiling ‘’Tell me, what have you been doing in the last ten days? To whom have you been telling lies? How many enemies you have made and how many friends you have lost?’’

The man answered ‘’Well, thinking that I did not have any time left to waste  I have made peace with everyone and I have distributed my wealth to the ones who were in need.’’

-What were the people thinking about you before?

‘’They were thinking that I was a selfish  and a rude person’’

‘’And now?’’

‘’Everybody is praising me and saying that I am a saintly  person’’.

‘’Are you happy to hear these?’’

‘’Yes, of course!’’

‘’Then, go back to your home my son. Know that you can leave this world at any moment. Live all the remaining days of your life like the last ten days. You will always find peace in this manner. This is the spiritual knowledge.’’

If, an individual’s life is based only on fishing, walking, singing, falling in love, loving his child, watching the theater, reading poems and following the stock exchange, then such pleasures cannot give him anything and naturally he cannot have a peaceful life.  The story above is very important from the point of   emphasizing and showing that  an interference made to  a  life style full of opposites hits the target.

If, the Master’s answer   had been in accordance with the nature and character of  the man, then he would not be able to benefit out of it and he wouldn’t be able to reach  the right solution.

It is interesting to see that when death comes closer the individuals change totally and the human being becomes aware of  the fact that there is no need to stick to the things that he is going to live here on earth to which he places  the utmost importance.    The most important of all he perceives the true  values in this dimension.

Now, it is obvious  that it is not necessary to argue about the  problems we have to face and  that all these problems were relative.

As can be seen it must be beneficial  to look at life from different windows.

My dear friends!

Such feelings that capture us and carry us along  should be left aside before they become transformed into power struggles/passions and they should leave the place for the merits of the mind such as modesty, endeavor,courage, purity/innocence,  giving willingly, direction,  expecting hopefully, and having  fear.

The humanly material values may lead the individual to feel himself as insufficient and insecure.  We must find out the means of  living without    being troubled about these problems.  When we determine these feelings  as well as  the composition (the factors that build up a   relations it would be very easy for us to get rid of them).

Istanbul, March 10th 2005