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Contended in the here and now, aspiring for Most and More…

A couple married for about 2 years lived in a small village that was fairly unknown but endowed with serene natural beauty. The husband who had a patch of paddy field was from this village and the wife was from a village about 20 kilometers away.

Married for a few years, the husband could not stand his wife for her constant nagging. They would quarrel almost all the time and the husband, to escape from the nagging wife used to spend most of his time outside the house with his friends. Those days, there was nothing called divorce, and so they got along together miserably!!

Once the man decided that he could no longer stand the nagging stormed out of the house saying that he won’t be back for a while, set out of the house and decided to go the other side of the mountain in to the neighboring State. He walked to the foot of the mountain started climbing the mountain to quite some height when he came across a clearing where there was an old Vishnu temple. He got surprised seeing a temple there where there was hardly any presence of human beings. He got inside did not know what to do and as an act of surrender, fell before the idol of Vishnu and cried his heart out crying about his predicament of living with. He did not know how long he was lying there in the temple but after a while which was after a very long while the villager got up and was prepared to leave. Lo and behold, he saw the resplendent Vishnu right in front of him and he could not believe this to be real. Stunned by the Darshan that the villager had never anticipated he could not blink and could not open his mouth to put forth his hardship that he was subjected to in the house to the Lord. The Lord was the first to speak. He told the villager that he could understand the villager’s anguish and was prepared to grant the villager 3 boons.

The villager by now got out of his passivity with all his negotiating skills asked the Lord if he could ask for just one boon now and ask for the remaining boons later. The Lord was taken aback but bestowed the wish of the villager. “Alright”, the Lord said, “you may ask for your first boon” The Villager did not have to think for more than a few seconds. He said triumphantly,” Oh Lord, I do not need my wife anymore.” The Lord smiled and said, “I have told you that you could have asked for anything in the Universe and your wish would have been my command for I have granted you a boon now. Your request is very trivial. I am disappointed; however I have to honour your request.” In any case he said, ”Thathastu”, “so be it.” The villager went back home and when he reached the door step he saw that his wife was preparing to leave the house who heatedly asked where he had been for this long. She continued saying that she couldn’t stand him any longer and was planning to leave to be live with her parents. The husband had a twinkle in his eye when he heard this and pretended to be upset about what he heard and acted as if he did not like her going out, even a bit. The wife left and the villager was delighted.

Meanwhile his friends came and enquired about his wife, they felt that he should have been more understanding, more patient and more tolerant. They also went on to say that his wife had such good qualities and basically a nice person; they even said that the villager’s wife was far better than their own wives!! That made the villager very upset about the judgment he had formed about his wife and after thinking about his wife for the happier moments they have had, he set off to the mountains to meet his Lord.

The Lord appeared and asked the villager,” the other two boons?” you may go ahead and ask. The villager said,” I want to ask for only one boon now and that is to ask for my wife back. The Lord smiled and said, “Is this all you want whereas you could have asked for anything in this Universe”. The villager said I want my wife back. The Lord said, ”Thathastu”, “so be it”. The villager goes back home and when he had just opened the door of his house he saw his wife dragging her bags back and with tears in her eyes. She prostrated before the husband and said, “please forgive me." I went out of the house in haste, I should not have done it.” They embraced one another and talked about all the pleasant things and happy times when they were together.

The husband reveals to his wife about his meeting up with the Lord and the one boon which was impending. They deliberated about what could be asked for. They went through a huge wish list – to have a bungalow, to have enough money, to have gold, to have 100 acres of farm, and many more. Since they could not decide they went to the houses of 3 of their friends. Not confiding to their friends about his meeting up with the Lord he asked that if God were to appear in front of us what is it we could ask for?” His friends suggested to ask for gold, or enormous wealth or property and so on and so forth, and the answer was nothing newer than what he and his wife had deliberated. The couple became more confused with what they heard when they consulted the more villagers discretely and did not know what to do. They really had a huge problem in hand, that of, “What should be the final boon?”

The following morning the husband became more resolute and goes to the mountain to meet his Lord. Lord appeared and asked, “You are here for your last boon? You may go ahead and ask.” The villager said, O Lord, can I ask you a question before I ask you for the boon?” The Lord smiled and said that he might not like his answer but asked him to proceed with the question. The villager asked,” What is it that I can ask from you, my Lord that would be the best asked boon?!”

The Lord replied, “Thee boon of being contended about the past with no regrets and ambitious about the future with Most and More aspirations.” This is the secret of living a fulfilling life.  The villager happily asked for the boon and got it !

When he made his way back home his senses came alive and he observed the beautiful trees bristling with the other, drops of water on blades of grass, faint noises of the animals and creatures, the colourful butterflies, the most beautiful stream with fishes popping out their mouth, the huge migratory birds and a lot of things which he would never have noticed because of his discontented nature and the whole grandeur of the entire scheme of things. He was for the first time in touch with Reality. He reached home and he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever met in his life - his wife !! He hugged her and told her about the immense love he had for her. He told her about her positive traits and appreciated every bit of her good qualities.

The most modest furniture they had, looked so good, the flooring and walls were immaculate, their house looked like ‘Home Sweet Home.’ Every thing about the outside remained the same but because of the Transformation of the most important aspect from the inside called contentment, he could see everything from a different perspective.

He started setting his goals. To grow an orchard, to grow casuarina trees, to buy a tractor, to buy a few more acres – all this for a start and gave himself a time frame of three years. Once he had this, he thought he would make a much grander plan.