Lao Tzu | Powerful Story

Namaskar friends, I am Saurabh and welcome to your booktuber Hindi. Sometimes, despite everything happening, there is a strange empty space inside. You laugh, work, meet people, but there is something inside that feels incomplete. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, a race starts in your mind. And you have to achieve more and become better and move forward. But at night, when you fall on a tired bed, do you ever ask yourself, why is there so much emptiness inside even after all this running? You think about work while eating, think about holidays while working, and think about how much work has been collected during the holidays. You are never where you are. Your body is in one place and your mind is wandering in thousands of places. You are sitting with your loved ones, but your body is there. Your soul is under the burden of some incomplete work. This is an invisible prison that you have made with great effort around you. The prison of success, the prison of hopes, and the prison of showing the world that everything is fine. And you are the only prisoner of this beautiful prison. Today's story is about breaking that prison. This is the story of an emperor who had everything. Wealth, fame, power. But he did not have what an ordinary gardener had. Peace of mind. This is the story of the great philosopher Lao Tzu, who taught the emperor how to concentrate on every task. This is not just a story, it is a therapy. This is the answer to the question that you are afraid to ask yourself. How can I get out of this anxiety? Then tie your chair to your stomach. Because in the next few minutes, we are going to get out of the storm of mental turmoil and get into the deep sea of silence. This is BookTuber Hindi. And today we will learn together with Lao Tzu the lost secret of concentrating on every task. Centuries ago, a powerful emperor ruled a vast empire. His empire spread far and wide. There were mountains of gold and silver. And millions of heads would bow to his voice. Everything in the world was in his grasp. But every night when he went to his cozy bed, he felt a strange emptiness. An anxiety that no wealth in the world could fill. One day, his ministers mentioned an extraordinary person in the court. He said, Your Majesty, in our empire, near the mountains, in a small town, there is a philosopher named Lao Tzu. People say that in every word of his, the truth of life is hidden. A wise man like him is nowhere to be found. The emperor, who was always hungry for the best things, his ears were sore. The most extraordinary person in my kingdom and I have never met him? His ego was hurt. He thought, If he is so great, he should be in my court. He should be another diamond in my crown. The emperor decided, I will go and see for myself how true that Lao Tzu is. The next day, the emperor's caravan set out for Lao Tzu's town. It was not just a material journey. It was a journey of the emperor's ego. He was making a picture of Lao Tzu in his mind. He must be living in a grand ashram. Thousands of disciples must be sitting at his feet. He must be surrounded by knowledge. He must have the brightness of the universe in his eyes. The emperor was not going to meet him. He was going to test him. He was going to see if Lao Tzu was worthy of his greatness or not. The road was long and tiring. On the way, the emperor asked many people about Lao Tzu. Everyone praised him. Some said, His presence alone gives peace. Others said, He does not speak as the universe speaks through him. These words increased the emperor's expectations. His ego was now in the seventh heaven. He was going to meet a person who was almost like God. And this meeting made the emperor feel that his own stature would be even higher. In the evening, the emperor's caravan reached the small hill where Lao Tzu lived. But there was no grand ashram. There was no crowd of disciples. There was just a simple hut and a small garden outside it. An old man was working in the garden in his old clothes. His body was covered in mud. His legs were bare. He was digging the ground with all his might. The emperor got off his golden palanquin. His precious silk clothes and jewels looked strange in that dusty environment. He asked the gardener, with a bit of arrogance and authority, I am the emperor. I want to meet the philosopher Lao Tzu. Where is he? The gardener stopped his work. He wiped his sweat and looked at the emperor with great humility. There was no fear or greed in his eyes. There was only deep peace. He said, Please take a seat inside. I will call Lao Tzu. The emperor went inside the hut. There was no special decoration inside. Just a mat and a pot of water. The emperor waited. His patience was paying off. What a great philosopher who lives in such a place. Where is that grandeur, that expression of wisdom? He was getting angry. A little later, the same gardener came inside. He had washed his hands and feet, but his clothes were still there. He came and greeted the emperor. The emperor was surprised and said, I had sent you to call Lao Tzu. And you came yourself? The gardener smiled and said, Forgive me, my lord. I am Lao Tzu. I was doing a little work in the garden. That's why I made a mistake in recognizing you. Tell me, why did you come all the way here? The ground creaked under the emperor's feet. It was a mess. This Lao Tzu, this gardener, his arrogance, all his hopes, were shattered in a moment. He felt as if someone had poured cold water on him. The one he thought was the greatest scholar in the world, he looked like an ordinary laborer. The emperor said to himself, I had heard that you are the most extraordinary person in this kingdom. I had come to ask you for some advice on self-knowledge. But forgive me. I see that you have no scripture, no book. There is no sign of wisdom or knowledge around you. But still, there is a strange peace in your eyes. How are you so calm? Can you tell me the secret of this? The emperor still thought that secret to be a thing. A formula, a technique, which he can learn and take back to his palace. Lao Tzu's smile became even deeper. He examined the storm inside the emperor. He said, Emperor, this cannot be told in secret words. It is better to experience it. You do one thing. Come here before sunrise tomorrow. You will get your answer. Saying this, Lao Tzu became silent. The emperor could not sleep the whole night. His mind was full of thousands of questions. What is he going to tell me? Will he give me a secret mantra? Or will he show me a miracle? His restlessness was at its peak. The next morning, when the first ray of the sun began to kiss the mountains, the emperor reached Lao Tzu's hut. He was tired after a night of restlessness. But he was also filled with a new hope. I will get that secret today. Lao Tzu was already in his garden. He saw the emperor and smiled. Come, emperor. I have been waiting for you. The emperor moved forward with excitement. Tell me, guru, what should I do? Lao Tzu pointed to one place of water nearby. There were 15 small plants in the garden. He said, Emperor, pour water slowly from this place into these plants. But there is one condition. The emperor listened carefully. Lao Tzu said, When you are pouring water, you will not do anything else, nor will you think of anything else. Your entire attention, your entire consciousness, should only be on the water falling from that place and the plant that is drinking that water. If you have any other thought in your mind, of the palace, of the kingdom, or of me, then you will stop there. And you will start again from the first plant. When you pour water to all 15 plants without any thought, then come to me. The emperor laughed a little when he heard this. That's it? This is a child's play. I, an emperor, who rules over millions of people, can't I stick to such a small thing? He thought, Lao Tzu might be testing him. And he will come first. With great self-confidence, the emperor stood up and started pouring water on the first plant. He paid full attention. The stream of water, the fragrant soil, the leaves of the plant, everything seemed wonderful. He finished the first plant. Then he moved on to the second plant. He carefully poured water on the second plant as well. Now he had more self-confidence. As soon as he moved on to the third plant, he suddenly had a thought in his mind. The garden of my palace is a thousand times more beautiful than this. How many gardeners work there. Lao Tzu is also strange. He does all the work himself. The thought came and went. But the emperor was honest. He remembered what Lao Tzu had said. Taking a deep breath, he returned to the first plant. He felt a little dizzy. He started again. This time he was even more careful. The first plant, the second plant, the third plant. He had reached the fourth plant. As he looked at the stream of water, he remembered his childhood. When he played with the water on the banks of the river. One more thought. The emperor was worried. He went back to the first plant. Now he was sweating on his forehead. The more he tried, the more his mind was wandering. Your mind is like a wild horse. And breath is the only soft rope that can make it easier. But the emperor was forcing that horse. He was trying to beat him. He started again. Sometimes he thought of his enemies. Sometimes he thought of his queens. Sometimes he remembered an incomplete debate in the court. Every time, a new thought would catch him and push him back to the first plant. It was afternoon. The sun had risen. The emperor was sweating. But he could not move forward from the fifth plant. His self-confidence had now turned into pride and shame. I, an emperor, a man who controls the whole world, is not able to control his own mind. What kind of joke is this? He started getting angry at Lao Tzu. They are doing all this But he also knew that Lao Tzu was just a mirror in which he could see his own reality. It was evening. The sun was setting. The birds were returning to their nests. And the emperor, the most powerful man in the world, was tired and defeated and sat on the ground. He did not plant any of the fifteen plants carefully. The work that seemed like a child's play in the morning now seemed as heavy as a mountain. He had completely lost. That's when Lao Tzu came to him. There was no joke or taunt on his face. There was only compassion. He said, Emperor, you may not have been able to complete this task, but I am very pleased with your honesty. You did not try to deceive. You accepted all your failures. And this is the first step. The emperor looked at Lao Tzu with tired eyes. There was no ego in his voice now. There was only a deep curiosity. But why did I fail? The more I tried to concentrate, the more my mind ran away. Lao Tzu sat next to him. He said, Emperor, you were not watering the plants. You wanted to finish the task as soon as possible. You had a goal in your mind. Complete the fifteen plants and then talk to me. Learn the secret from me. You were not in this moment. You were in the future. That's why this simple task seemed like a burden to you. The task that you would consider a burden would always make your mind run away. Lao Tzu explained, If you had understood the value of that task, if you had understood that in that moment apart from the plants and water, there was nothing else in the universe, then no thought could bother you. When the mind is completely empty of thoughts, then the true nature of the mind, which you can call silent awareness, appears. And every simple task becomes extraordinary. In that state of consciousness, you get the peace and knowledge that you are looking for. The king said, It sounds good to hear all this, but how is it possible? When we work, thousands of thoughts trouble us. Will I have to leave everything and do penance in the jungle for this? Lao Tzu smiled. No, Emperor. You already have a calm mind. Like the sky is always blue, even if the clouds cover it. You don't have to go anywhere. You just have to learn to remove those clouds. At this point, I would like to ask you a question. When was the last time you did a task with full concentration, without looking at the phone, without thinking about anything else? When did you live that moment 100%? Think about it. Maybe you don't even remember because we are all like that emperor. We are addicted to productivity. We want to do 10 tasks at a time. We consider multitasking to be an illusion, whereas neuroscience says that multitasking is a myth. Our mind can focus on one task at a time. When we do two tasks at a time, we actually make both tasks incomplete and create stress in our mind. This is called an attention crisis. Our mind is scattered. Notifications, social media, these are all thoughts that take us back to the beginning. We want to finish every task quickly so that we can move on to the next dopamine hit, the next reel, the next message, the next email. And because of this, we have forgotten to live. We are just doing it. There is a state in modern psychology called the flow state. The great psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered it. This is the same state that Laotzu was talking about. Flow is the mental state when you get so immersed in a task that you don't even realize your time, your hunger, your thirst, and even your self. In this state, your mind performs well and you get deep satisfaction. Scientists say that in the state of flow, the prefrontal cortex of our mind, which is the critic and planner within us, calms down. And when the plans and plans calm down, all that is left is to happen. The same pure consciousness. The emperor heard Laotzu and said, I understand, but how do I get this state? How do I practice it? Laotzu said, First of all, learn to focus on your breath. This is the simplest and most powerful technique. Peace is within you. It is attached to your breath. Whenever you are restless, just stop and feel your incoming breath. No coercion. No control. Just look at it like a witness. After that, with all your work, focus on your breath. While walking, talking, even while thinking, a small part of your consciousness should remain attached to your breath. The breath will work like an anchor for you. Whenever the ship of the mind gets lost in a storm of thoughts, the anchor of the breath will bring it back to the shore of the present. When you do this continuously, Laotzu explained, your scattered mind starts to tighten. It becomes focused. And when you do something with this focused mind, only that work is reflected in that mind. No other thought is created. Then, the doer, the doer, and the work, the action, become one. And that silent consciousness, which has always been there, appears. You can call it self-knowledge, bliss, or the present moment. Give it a name. The situation is the same. What Laotzu was teaching, thousands of years later, Jaggi Vasudev and Eckhart Tolle are also teaching the same. Eckhart Tolle, in his book, The Power of Now, says, that the root of all human sorrows is to despise the present moment. We either live in regrets of the past or in worries of the future. Whereas, life happens only here and now. This is what Lord Krishna had said in the Bhagavad Gita thousands of years ago. Akarma does not mean not to work. It means to work without the desire for the fruit. To work without the feeling of being a doer. When the emperor was watering the plants, he became a doer. I am watering the plants. I have to finish this work. I want the fruit, the secret. This ego was not allowing him to stay in the present moment. When you leave the feeling of being a doer and only work like a worship, like a gift, then you are in the state of Akarma. Then karma does not bind you. It frees you. In Zen Buddhism, it is believed to be the basis of meditation. In Zen mathas, applying magic on the floor or cleaning the utensils is also considered the highest form of meditation. There is a famous Zen saying, before applying magic, meditate. While applying magic, meditate. This means that the work is not important. While working, your state of consciousness is important. To clean the floor of your mind, you apply magic on the outer floor. Hearing Lao Tzu's words, the emperor's eyes were covered. For the first time, he understood what he was looking for and where he was making a mistake. He was looking for the knowledge outside while it was inside him. He was looking for peace in the palace and in the ashrams while it was hidden in watering an ordinary plant. He looked again at the garden. Now that garden did not seem ordinary, but miraculous to him. To him, Lao Tzu's soil, his hands and feet seemed like the most sacred books in the world. And then he understood that great Vidambana, the emperor, who was adorned with gold and silver, who was wearing the most precious attire in the world, his mind was filled with throbbing and roaring. And this garden, which was covered in mud and dust, his mind was as still and clear as a calm lake. The knowledge he was looking for was restless. And the knowledge he was living was calm. The emperor got up from his seat. He bowed his head in front of Lao Tzu. But this time, like a disciple, like a seeker, he had tears in his eyes. He did not say anything. And Lao Tzu did not ask anything. There was no need for words. He had received the greatest teaching. Friends, we are all like that emperor. We run from stress and anxiety. We think that holidays will give us peace or a new gadget will give us happiness. But we only change our place, not our state of mind. Lao Tzu teaches us that a mind that does not face difficulties, a mind that runs from stress, can never be at peace. Peace is not in running, but in being in the midst of stress and keeping your consciousness on your breath. So, the next time you do something, whether it is cutting vegetables on the office excel sheet or at home, do not try to finish it quickly. That work is the door to hell. Before starting work, take three deep breaths and whenever you remember come back to your breath. Gradually, paying attention to breath will change to paying attention to work. And you will not even know when your work has become attention and stress has disappeared. Remember, this is not a one-day practice. This is a lifelong practice. Even the king did not succeed in one day. But he faced his truth. Are you ready to face your truth? Spirituality does not begin in mountains or temples. It begins when you water a single plant with your whole being. If this story has shaken the sleeping king inside you, if you felt for a moment that this story is yours, then this is not a coincidence. This video has not reached you because of any algorithm, but because of your search for the soul. When you press the red subscribe button you do not just subscribe to one channel, you make a promise to yourself that for your mental peace, for your self-discovery, you will definitely take out a few minutes every week. I want you to write in the comments right now, I am ready. This will not be just a comment. This will be a powerful message for your subconscious mind that you are ready for change. When you write something, your mind accepts it like a truth. And finally, do not keep this light of knowledge only to yourself. Share this video with your friend, that relative, who is always in tension, who is always running. You are not just a video, you are a seed of peace and stability in their life. Maybe one of your shares can change someone's life. I am your friend Saurabh and you were watching BookTuber Hindi. See you in the next video with another story that will change the perspective of your life. Thank you.