A humoristic spiritual story:The Meaning Of Life

The Meaning of Life
- a short story by Joost Boekhoven-

"Forget it" they said all three. "Long live our Flag and our Country!"
And Death stared them in the face.

It had been a long, long war and nobody knew who had started it, or why. But everyone kept their spirits high and their mind fixed on the Meaning of Life. What was it that gave life Meaning? Why, of course, it was defending the Honor of the Flag and the Honor of the Country!

Now there were three brothers fighting in this war, Jada, Tamak and Sadhak. For many years they did heroic deeds. They fought like lions to defend the Honor of their Flag, they fought like tigers for the Honor of their Country, they suffered and sacrificed for this highest of all causes. But finally there was a day when things went wrong: the enemy captured them.

When they were brought before the enemy's commanding officer, he liked their spirit. He saw their qualities as soldiers and he wanted them to fight on his side. He promised them that together with him they would defend the Honor of his Flag and the Honor of his Country, and after a short time they would surely feel that it was also their Flag and their Country. It was a just a matter of getting into the habit, he explained.

But the three brothers bravely refused. Now this commander was a good man, but he had to follow the rules of his profession. So he barked and bellowed, and threatened that he would have them executed if they kept refusing. But the three brothers didn't flinch. "Forget it." they said all three. "Long live our Flag and our Country!"

The commander had no choice but to call the firing squad. "You can have a last wish," he said, and he promised that they would get the time to enjoy whatever they would wish. He trusted that they would wish for something honorable.

Jada, the youngest of the three brothers, asked for a packet of cigarettes and the firing squad patiently waited with shooting him until he had smoked the whole packet. Jada's last thought was "I wish I could smoke more..." After a short time he reincarnated as the chimney of a chemical factory.

Tamak, the second of the three brothers, said he wanted to drink as much alcohol as he could before they executed him. They brought ten bottles of wine and he drank and drank and drank until he felt dizzy but rather happy. His last thoughts were not very clear, but they had something to do with being full of alcohol. A short time after his execution Tamak reincarnated as a bottle of wine.

Sadhak was the eldest of the three brothers and he had always been a bit different. When it was his turn for the last wish, he said he wanted to get self-realization.

"Self-what?" the commander inquired rather vehemently. "Self-realization. It means that you have a flash of deep insight like you have never had before and the whole world changes in front of your eyes." Sadhak explained enthusiastically. "At that moment you have discovered your real Self, you feel how you are connected with everything else in the world, and you understand everyone and everything. And you feel at peace with whatever will happen in your life."

The commander blinked a few times. Then he said he was very sorry, but could the wish not be about something simple?

Sadhak explained that the matter was actually quite simple. He would do deep meditation for some time, and then the self-realization would come automatically. "Afterwards you can still execute me," he reassured the commander.

So he was allowed to do meditation. He did this for several years, while the war went on and on. The commander thought that the fulfillment of this wish took a little longer than he had expected, but he was a man of his word and let Sadhak continue. Then, after more than five years, something unexpected happened . . .

One fine day, because of all his meditation, Sadhak got self-realization. When his mind returned in this relative world, he looked so happy that the commander ordered the execution to be delayed so that he could ask a few questions.

"I can't describe what happened," Sadhak answered, "but you can have the experience for yourself." And he taught the commander of the enemy how to do meditation. The good man filled all his free hours with meditation and after some time the soldiers of the firing squad came and requested if they also could learn it. Soon more soldiers came and Sadhak became well known, even outside of the army. Many people of the country started volunteering for the army, men and women alike, because they also wanted to learn meditation and get self-realization.

And then, soldiers began to desert from the army. Everyone who had done meditation for some time, got the feeling that it was silly to fight for something limited like the Honor of the Flag and the Honor of the Country. So it happened that after several years all the people of the country were doing meditation and refused to fight in the army anymore. And the war came to an end.

Unhindered the enemy crossed the border. Its soldiers occupied the country, and suppressed the people. At last peace could reign, they declared. Sadhak was brought back to his homeland and welcomed as a hero, and he lived long and happily ever after -well, that was what he was supposed to do. But after all these years of meditation he found the victory of his country completely unimportant. He didn't even feel that he belonged to that particular country -he simply felt part of the one human family on this planet. And he felt sorry for the suppressed people in the occupied country. They were not allowed to keep their own culture, they had to accept that of their suppressers. They were not even allowed to do meditation anymore.

So one day Sadhak secretly disappeared to that country and started to teach the people there again. But this time he taught them that they had to fight.

"But we don't want to fight," they said, shocked, "we want to do meditation and love our enemies."

Sternly he shook his head. "You should not fight for a country -but you have to fight for your freedom and for the right to do meditation. What else gives meaning to your life?!"

He convinced the people. Since they all had done meditation for some time, their minds were strong and their determination unshakable. They organized themselves quickly and freed their country in a short and fierce fight. Then they left their enemy in peace.

Sadhak worked until his death as a yoga teacher in both countries and the only thing in his life he regretted was that he hadn't taught his brothers Jada and Tamak meditation. Even when he died he had this thought in his mind.

Sometime later he got reborn as a highly spiritual person. When he married, he became father of two children and they were unexplainably familiar to him. As soon as he could, he taught them meditation...

Linköping, August 1993

This story was taken from the book "Wishes, wishes" by Joost Boekhoven.