So he said, "From where can I get it? You just show me the place; I will conquer it." He knew only one language: of conquering.
Ecstasy cannot be conquered. On the contrary, you have to allow it to conquer you. You cannot conquer it; you have to surrender to it. It conquers you. You cannot possess it, you have to allow it to possess you. That is the only way. But that was a language he had never known.
Somebody said, "Mahavir is right nearby, staying in the forest. You go to him. He has attained." So the king went there with a great army -- the man knew only one language.
He surrounded the forest. Then he approached Mahavir. He thought, "If he surrenders without a fight, it is okay." So he went to Mahavir and he said, "I have come to conquer the kingdom you have attained, the kingdom of inner ecstasy."
Mahavir laughed. He said, "Good, your desire is good. But you seem to be absolutely unaware of what you are asking. It cannot be conquered by you. I HAVE got it here, but I cannot give it to you and you cannot conquer it."
The king said, "You don't be worried about it. You just show me where it is. You cannot give it? What do you mean? That you don't want to give it to me? I can force you to give it. I have not come across anything which cannot be conquered. You simply show me where it is."
Mahavir must have felt a deep compassion in his heart for this man. Foolish, stupid, but that's how humanity is. He said, "You do one thing. There is no need to come to me. In your own capital there is a very poor man and he may want to bargain with you. He has also attained. You go to him."
The king had never heard the name of that poor man, but he said, "I will go." He went to that poor man. He was really a beggar, but with the same light in his eyes as Mahavir, with the same fragrance around him, with the same innocence. He was sitting under a tree. The king said, "You are part of my kingdom and whatsoever you have attained -- give it to me! Whatsoever you want in return, I am ready to give. Even if you want my whole kingdom, I will give it to you. But bring out, give me, your SAMADHI."
The man laughed. He said, "I can give you my life, it is in your hands, but I cannot give you SAMADHI. Not that I don't want to give it, but the very nature of it is such that it cannot be given. You will have to earn it."
The king said, "But I have never earned anything. I am a conqueror. Whatsoever I need, I simply conquer it. I'm not a businessman; I never earn anything. I am a KSHATRIYA, a warrior."
The beggar said, "But here, your swords won't do, nor your army. Here you will have to go alone, because it is a going inward. You have to go to your own center. And it cannot be given because you already have it. It has only to be known, discovered."
Our ignorance is the only reason that we don't have it. Not that we don't have it -- it has been always there -- but we have forgotten it. We have become oblivious to it, our eyes have become clouded. The vision has lost the crystal clarity that is needed to rediscover it.
Have you watched? Sometimes you are trying to remember somebody's name. You know it, and still it is not coming. You feel very puzzled. You say it is just on the tip of the tongue. You say, "I KNOW it," but if somebody insists, "If you know it, then why don't you tell it?" you say, "But it is not coming."
Come Follow To You
