Daily Meditation: Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Methods - what makes them effective

03/09/2010

We are told that under the reign of the ottoman sultan Mehmet II, known as 'the Conqueror', there was a famous warrior who had won twenty-two victories against enemy armies. It was at a time when fighting was done with swords, and so, one day, the sultan asked for this all-victorious sword to be brought to him, as he thought it must possess exceptional qualities. So the sword was brought to him. He took it, turned it one way, turned it the other way... But it was a completely ordinary sword, and the sultan, disappointed, returned it, saying he had no use for such an ordinary weapon. When the hero who had emerged victorious from so many battles learned of the sultan's reaction, he exclaimed, 'But he saw only the sword, he didn't see my arm. It is my arm that won the victories'. I, too, give you a sword, which is to say, effective spiritual methods, that is, effective provided you apply them. Even a tiny knife can work wonders if we practise handling it every day, and a single match can set a whole city ablaze. With some seemingly unimpressive method, one can also do an immense work: it is all in the arm, that is, in the will.