Desire leads to Pain - How to run with less worry?

Stories from the East (Part 5)

This is a short story about a kite. The story is very beautiful to read and reflect. I became fond of it as I liked the moral of the story. It is one of the best story that I have come across.

There was once a kite which looked very majestic. It was flying gracefully very high in the air. It stayed high up for about an hour. After that the weather suddenly started to become not favourable. Clouds gathered and the wind suddenly started to howl and whistle loudly. The kite started its descent because of the downward powerful push from the wind.

As the kite descended, it went down all the way to hit the surface of the sea. As it brushed on the surface of the sea, it appeared with a fish on itself. The fish was actually swimming up to the surface of the sea and then swim downwards. However, while it was doing this it unfortunately got caught on to the kite.

Seeing this, a bird which was flying and passing by chanced to see the fish on the kite. The focus of the bird's eyes was only the fish. It was hungry and thought that it will be  good idea to eat the fish and was starting to make its way towards the kite aggressively. The other birds which were aware of the sight started to fly towards the kite and were trying to vie for the fish and wanted to be the first to consume it.

Owing to the sudden changes in the wind direction, the kite was flying up and down most of the time. Also, all of a sudden it was moving sideways, then again repeatedly it was going up and then down. It happened like this for several times and the predator birds just kept gathering in strength to catch the fish. The kite felt miserable over this incident and was trying to keep away from the predator birds. As time passed, it started worrying more and more.

While more and more birds gathered, finally there was a strong push all the way downwards to the surface of the sea. It happened so fast that it was the similar brushing of the kite on the surface of the sea that took place earlier on when the fish got stuck. However, this time, it became miraculous when the fish was let off, by the fish taking its opportunity to escape itself from the kite. It ended very successful when it finally managed to escape.  

As soon as the fish got away, the kite was feeling lighter than before and felt itself flying higher and higher. It was raising itself so high up until it reached the earlier height it attained before and felt itself having freedom to move in the sky, without being attacked by any predator birds. It was feeling the difference of having the fish on itself and without. The kite felt on top of the world and felt very happy eventually.

Moral of the Story

Everything in life comes in a package. The truth is pain and pleasure are one. People are attached to pleasure and not to pain. Refusing to believe this is only making ourselves look foolish, that's all. When we desire more, there is all the pain that we got to go through to attain it. More desires means more pain. More pain means more the misery. If we put ceiling to our desire, the only thing we feel will be happiness. Desire has no end. We can keep on desiring. Even when a desire is fulfilled, the desires keep coming back. Also, when the desire is not fulfulled, it will only bring dissatisfaction. One would feel miserable. By having no desire, one will have a feeling freedom from wants.

The key thing is to desire the necessary wants and drop the unnecessary wants. It is good for us to realise the truth that everything surrounding us is temporary and changing. It is not permanent. Hence, it is good to be aware of what happens when you cling on to something which is after all temporary.

Application to Running - My Experience

If you have less desires you will have more time for yourselves to train. The goals will be easier to attain. Examples like desire to study and run form as necessary goals. When you are very interested in more material gain, one has to check whether the gain is for simple living or for a complicated living. The key is simple living and high thinking.

The lesser the desire, the stronger is the will to attain what you are aiming for.