A short metaphorical story on life’s true purpose and focusing on the stuff that really matters... Extracted and changed by Sounder from the book, "The Maggid Speaks" by R.P Krohn.
A broke man named Ragav once lived on the streets of Madurai. He came across an old wise man who shared with him the story of the lost land of Kumari. “In Kumari”, the wise man exclaimed, “there are said to be pearls just lying around on the beaches and diamonds on the streets. There are so-many there, that the locals don’t even care to pick them all up!”; the wise old man added, “Had I not been old, I would’ve set sail to the land of treasures myself, for I know a secret boat that makes trips to that place”
Ragav, on hearing this, urged the old man to give him the know-hows of it, so he could go and bring them both pearls and diamonds to make them rich. The old man accepted and directed him accordingly.
It was a long, risky and tiresome voyage at sea. Nearly a year after setting sail, Ragav finally reached the lost land of Treasures, Kumari. “The old man was right! There are diamonds that lie as mere rocks on the streets and pearls scattered along the beaches! I’m rich…I’m rich!!”, exclaimed the jubilant Ragav.
He dropped his bags and quickly began to gather whatever he could get his hands on, stuffing them into his pocket. The people who saw him laughed at him. "What's your rush? The boat is not returning here for a whole year!" Ragav thought to himself, "Hey, they're right. Besides there's so many diamonds here, there's enough for everyone."
The next day he began to pick up diamonds and noticed that no one else was doing it. In fact, they laughed at him, and he began to feel like a fool. He asked his neighbour, “Why are they laughing at me? Aren’t they gonna pick up some diamonds themselves?”. The neighbour replied, “No mate, we don’t care about diamonds here. It’s cheap stuff lying around everywhere…”
"If diamonds aren't important here, tell me -- what is?", enquired Ragav, curious to know.
"Slime, my friend. That's where it's at. We have invented a number of different ways to use it. But it's so hard to get that stuff here, anyone who can produce it is bound to become rich."
Ragav immediately began to work hard at producing and selling slime. He became so immersed that he eventually forgot why he had come to the island in the first place. He would ignore the diamonds in the street like everyone else, and over time amassed a great supply of slime, receiving a lot of honour from the islanders.
Months passed and news came to the island that the boat was coming to pick up all the foreigners in two weeks. Ragav was too caught up in producing slime to refocus his thoughts. "What a successful year! Time to pack up my slime and take them home!"
As he was boarding the boat, he suddenly remembered that the whole reason for coming to Kumari was for diamonds and pearls, not slime! It was too late now, and as he scooped up a few diamonds and pearls, he thought to himself that all the slime would make him rich at home.
After a few weeks on the boat, all the slime began to rot and stink up the entire ship. There was no choice but to throw it all overboard. He landed back home and went to meet the old man. Ragav showed him the chunks and pieces that he hastily collected at the last moment. The old man was pleased as he spoke, “It’s enough to keep us content for several years!”, while Ragav gloomily regretted, “Well, only if I had focused on what really was important…”
We all come into this world to pick diamonds like happiness, love, for experiences and adventures and whatever that gives us peace. But we all fall into the trap of thinking that money can be traded for anything. We chase the dumb things that life has to offer and at the verge of our death, we dream of what all could've been done, only if we had got to know, what really is important in life?
It’s up to us to find out...
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