The king's surrender
One day a great king sent his representative to Balananda to invite him to come to the king’s palace. Balananda said to the king’s representative, “Well, you are coming from one king to another. You must know that I am also a king — in the inner world. Since one king is inviting another king, I feel that I must go. But first I wish to tell you a story.”Balananda asked his disciples who were nearby to come and sit in front of him, as he was going to tell a significant story:
The Master said, Who? Who?
The king himself! the guards replied.
The Master said, Don’t bother me. I am also a king.
The guards threatened him, We will strike you!
He said, How dare you touch me! Just try! Then the guards looked at his eyes and saw that they were emitting fire. They got frightened and ran to narrate the story to their king.
After he heard the story, the king went up to the Master and said in a mocking manner, O saint, I understand that you are another king. Please tell me how many soldiers you have.
The spiritual man said, I don’t have any soldiers" — not even one.
How can you be a king without any soldiers? the king asked.
The saint replied, I have no enemy to fight against. Why do I need any soldiers?
Then the king asked, Tell me, please, where is your house? Where do you live?
He answered, The whole world is my house. Why do I need a particular house? All the houses in God’s creation belong to me, for God is my Father, my only Father. The father’s house the son can legitimately claim. So all the houses of this world are mine. I don’t need any special house to live in.
The king now realised that this man was not an ordinary human being. He fell down at the feet of the spiritual Master and begged him for forgiveness. The Master immediately granted him forgiveness and, with a smiling face, moved away from where he had been seated in the middle of the road so that the king’s procession could freely move on to its destination.
After Balananda had initiated him, the king said, “Please tell me how I can rule my kingdom. I am always assailed by fear, doubt, anxiety and worry.”
Balananda said, “It is very easy. From now on, let all your possessions remain with you, but feel that they are not yours. They belong to God. God is the sole owner of all the things that you claim to be yours; you are only His manager. He has asked you to manage these things on His behalf, but He is the real owner. You are the false owner. Since the real owner always takes care of His own property, the false owner must surrender to His Will. Pray to God to make you an unconditional instrument of His. In that way you will never be assailed by fear, worry, anxiety and doubt; you will be only a dear instrument of His.”
