Way to Happiness

“I am caught in the prison of sorrows and I am suffering,” he said.

“What is the reason?” asked an old man.

“Others are giving me trouble.”

“It is your mind that gives you trouble.”

“Is that what you say?”

“Yes.”

“If that is so, what is the way out of sorrow?”

“Understand your mind…It’s enough.”

“How to understand?” he asked.

“Listen to this story”, the man said.

Thus, he narrated:

“A man had a pet cat and he loved it. One day, that cat caught a rat and brought it. That made him happy. The next day, the cat caught his pet parrot and brought it. He was shocked by that. Yet another day, the cat roamed somewhere and caught and brought a sparrow. He was neither happy nor shocked by that. It took him sometime to understand that it is the nature of a cat to catch something.

It is happiness when a rat, which is not liked, is caught. 

It is sadness when a parrot, which is liked, is caught. 

It is neither happiness nor sadness when a sparrow, not related to him, is caught.”

The old man ended the story. 

He started thinking. He heard the gate of the prison being opened.

“People who understand live happily.”


Translated by me from "Ullame Ulagam" by Thenkachi Ko Swaminathan (publishers Vanathi Pathipagam).