Sadhvi Vishrut Vibha
Awakened Consciousness
Once there was an Acharya who lived with three disciples in a jungle. There, he taught them the technique of meditation. The disciples took keen interest in learning it. After about a month of training, the Acharya decided to test the ability of his disciples and wanted to confirm if they had really learnt something. He also wanted to see if their consciousness had transformed in a positive manner or not. So, he made a plan and accordingly filled a path with thorns. He then called all the three disciples and asked them to cross that path barefoot without changing their route. This meant that they couldn’t take any other path of their on choice but had to walk through that thorny path.
The first disciple, who was very obedient and dedicated to his guru, immediately began walking along the thorny path without giving it a second thought. He had hardly walked ten steps on the thorns when the sole of his feet started bleeding and he experienced unbearable pain. As he could not walk any further, he abandoned the path midway.
The second disciple was disciplined but very self-centered. He thought that the guru’s command was too impractical to obey. As such, he went on to another path. Thus, he completely disobeyed the instruction of his guru by not following the same path.
The third disciple, at once realized that the guru was only trying to test their aptitude with this tough puzzle. So he immediately brought a broom and swept away the thorns of the path and walked on it according to the command of his guru. The guru found that the first disciple had not developed consciousness; the second disciple was excessively cunning and disobedient, while the third had fully developed his consciousness and was obedient.
