The king chooses his bodyguard

There was a king who was not at all satisfied with his bodyguards. He wanted to have a bodyguard who would be able to please him in his own way, someone who was stronger than the strongest and wiser than the wisest. So the king sent a message to the prime minister to hand-pick a few very strong men who were also endowed with wisdom. The prime minister chose four most powerful men. The king was very pleased when these candidates stood in a row in front of him. He said, "They are such strong men!" Then the king asked the prime minister to ask them a question. The question was, "If the king is attacked quite unexpectedly, what will you do?" One by one they answered.

The first one said, "If the king is attacked, I will draw my sword and kill the villain. Whoever comes to attack the king will be slain by me." Then he sat down.

The second one said, "If the king is attacked, immediately I will grab whichever weapon the attacker is carrying. Whether the assailant has a gun or a knife or a sword, I will remove the weapon that he was going to use to kill the king." Then he sat down.

The third one said, "If the king is attacked, I will stand in between the king and that undivine person. I will protect the king from the assassin."

The king was listening in silence to all the answers. The fourth one said, "I shall not allow anybody to attack the king. I will protect the king in such a way that nobody will dare to come near the king. Why should I give anybody the opportunity to attack my king?" When the king heard these words, he stood up and shook hands with that man and said, "You are my true bodyguard."

This story applies to our own lives. Why should we allow wrong forces to attack us? Can we not be forewarned? Can we not pray and meditate before the attack comes? If we start praying early in the morning, then we will be well protected. We can pray to God, "My Supreme, do protect me and illumine me." We can pray for all the divine qualities to come forward in our lives. These divine qualities will come to us as protection.

The fourth candidate said, "Why should I allow anybody to come near the king and attack him? If I suspect someone, I will not allow that person to come near the king." In our spiritual life also, we should not allow wrong forces to come near us. When they are attacked, some seekers try to counter-attack those forces; other seekers try to take away their force; still others try to stand between the hostile forces and themselves. These approaches invariably fail. But the fourth type of seeker says, "No, no, I will not allow myself to be attacked by wrong forces." So this is the best approach. Long before those forces try to attack us, we have to be fully protected.