The great Khan was usually worried about meeting with his wife's brother and tried to avoid any possibilities. The wife's brother seemed to think of himself as someone blessed with the ability to always give the correct advice and therefore would always impose upon others with unending advice.
Once, in the village of the great Khan, high up in the secret mountains, at the place where three great nations met, away from the Karakoram highway, the old man sat, smoking his chillum, happy and peaceful with the rest of the world, because he could not see any part of the rest of the world or anybody, from where he sat. He would sit at his favourite place, below his favourite Chinar tree, and look out at the high snowy mountains of the Kongur mountains, and he would be happy.
And, sure enough, like all uninvited brothers-in-law, the great Khan's silly brother-in-law came around the high mountain track, riding his moth-bitten dysfunctional old donkey, and started talking, "O great Khan, my mother and father send you their regards, and our family sends you and my sister their best wishes. I see you, O great Khan, you are like an elder brother to me, and I am worried about you."
The great Khan looked at his brother-in-law with all the distaste he could muster, and smoking on his chillum, quietly, irritated, but without showing his anger, replied, "Oye brother of my wife, illiterate fool from the plains, son of demons, why are you worried about me? Was it not enough that you got me married to your family? Why do you punish that poor animal and climb these beautiful mountains that are not mean for those from the plains, and you come here to disturb my peaceful day?"
The silly brother-in-law had suffered enough remarks from the great Khan over many many years, and he knew that these words were probably the most polite that he could expect, and true to his long suffering nature, smiled, and answered, "O great Khan, you are too kind to me and to my donkey and to my parents. But, you are not taking care of yourself. There are new ways to understand life nowadays, and there are new ways that are taught to respect who you are and why you are born and why your life is important. You sit here, away from people, distant and remote, in these high mountains, without seeing anybody, and doing nothing. That is not the correct way to live one's life, O great Khan, as the people who come from the plains and as the people who come from across the seas tell us."
The great Khan was having a difficult time to convince himself that this remote place was a good location to be able to kill this silly brother-in-law and his donkey and throw him down the high mountain, and nobody would know and nobody would be the wiser. But, since he was the great Khan, and he was known to be peaceful and wise, and a true mentor to the rest of the world, he stayed his peace, and replied, "O illiterate fool from the plains, speak plainly before I go and send your sister back to your house, and then you will know the true meaning of fear and terror, for she will not return from your house, and your wife will for sure poison your food, speak, and let me know what is it that you would have me do?"
The brother-in-law shuddered, for he knew the manner of trauma that his wife would inflict on him and his parents if she was riled up, and therefore, he hastened in his reply, and spoke in short sentences, "O great Khan, this new thing is called meditation. These people from the plains and the new teachers from across the seas, they come to our places, and they have set up these remote cottages, and many people come there from the cities, and they teach them meditation. It is meant to be a great new way of life, and a great new way of changing your way of thinking and changing your attitude. You will truly benefit from all the teaching, and you will become a different man, O great Khan."
The brother-in-law continued, "They say, that you are to go to a remote place, high up in the mountains, away from everyone, sit under a shady tree, select a good location so you can see the mountains all around, and the valleys and the clouds and the trees and sit, in this beautiful location. You sit there, and do nothing. Keep doing nothing, for many days. This is meditation, they say, and if you do this, O great Khan, you will become a better man."
It is truly said, and I would not tell anyone else this, for it is a secret that is rarely told to another, that the silly brother-in-law was never met by anyone else after that day, and his donkey was found later by some children wandering about, aimlessly, in the nearby villages.
It is thereafter always said, that the great Khan would go about with a very peaceful smile on his face, happy, content and truly delighted with everything in his life, and when he was asked, he would say that he had discovered a new way of life, and he called it - "meditation".
Once, in the village of the great Khan, high up in the secret mountains, at the place where three great nations met, away from the Karakoram highway, the old man sat, smoking his chillum, happy and peaceful with the rest of the world, because he could not see any part of the rest of the world or anybody, from where he sat. He would sit at his favourite place, below his favourite Chinar tree, and look out at the high snowy mountains of the Kongur mountains, and he would be happy.
And, sure enough, like all uninvited brothers-in-law, the great Khan's silly brother-in-law came around the high mountain track, riding his moth-bitten dysfunctional old donkey, and started talking, "O great Khan, my mother and father send you their regards, and our family sends you and my sister their best wishes. I see you, O great Khan, you are like an elder brother to me, and I am worried about you."
The great Khan looked at his brother-in-law with all the distaste he could muster, and smoking on his chillum, quietly, irritated, but without showing his anger, replied, "Oye brother of my wife, illiterate fool from the plains, son of demons, why are you worried about me? Was it not enough that you got me married to your family? Why do you punish that poor animal and climb these beautiful mountains that are not mean for those from the plains, and you come here to disturb my peaceful day?"
The silly brother-in-law had suffered enough remarks from the great Khan over many many years, and he knew that these words were probably the most polite that he could expect, and true to his long suffering nature, smiled, and answered, "O great Khan, you are too kind to me and to my donkey and to my parents. But, you are not taking care of yourself. There are new ways to understand life nowadays, and there are new ways that are taught to respect who you are and why you are born and why your life is important. You sit here, away from people, distant and remote, in these high mountains, without seeing anybody, and doing nothing. That is not the correct way to live one's life, O great Khan, as the people who come from the plains and as the people who come from across the seas tell us."
The great Khan was having a difficult time to convince himself that this remote place was a good location to be able to kill this silly brother-in-law and his donkey and throw him down the high mountain, and nobody would know and nobody would be the wiser. But, since he was the great Khan, and he was known to be peaceful and wise, and a true mentor to the rest of the world, he stayed his peace, and replied, "O illiterate fool from the plains, speak plainly before I go and send your sister back to your house, and then you will know the true meaning of fear and terror, for she will not return from your house, and your wife will for sure poison your food, speak, and let me know what is it that you would have me do?"
The brother-in-law shuddered, for he knew the manner of trauma that his wife would inflict on him and his parents if she was riled up, and therefore, he hastened in his reply, and spoke in short sentences, "O great Khan, this new thing is called meditation. These people from the plains and the new teachers from across the seas, they come to our places, and they have set up these remote cottages, and many people come there from the cities, and they teach them meditation. It is meant to be a great new way of life, and a great new way of changing your way of thinking and changing your attitude. You will truly benefit from all the teaching, and you will become a different man, O great Khan."
The brother-in-law continued, "They say, that you are to go to a remote place, high up in the mountains, away from everyone, sit under a shady tree, select a good location so you can see the mountains all around, and the valleys and the clouds and the trees and sit, in this beautiful location. You sit there, and do nothing. Keep doing nothing, for many days. This is meditation, they say, and if you do this, O great Khan, you will become a better man."
It is truly said, and I would not tell anyone else this, for it is a secret that is rarely told to another, that the silly brother-in-law was never met by anyone else after that day, and his donkey was found later by some children wandering about, aimlessly, in the nearby villages.
It is thereafter always said, that the great Khan would go about with a very peaceful smile on his face, happy, content and truly delighted with everything in his life, and when he was asked, he would say that he had discovered a new way of life, and he called it - "meditation".
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