THE VALUE OF SELF-CONFIDENCE

THE VALUE OF SELF-CONFIDENCE

The Prince of Conscience

Once upon a time there was a king called Darapur, who came from a long line of worthy and respected kings. At his death his son the prince was crowned as sovereign, but this new king was filled with doubts.

"Who should I believe in?" "From whom should I take advice?" he wondered, as he was very concerned about how best to rule his kingdom. "I don't know how to tell a good person from an evil one, how to decide if someone is acting correctly or incorrectly. All those who came before me - my father, my grandfather, my great grandfather were all excellent rulers. I loved and respected them, and they were loved and respected by their loyal subjects. But who am I to expect this kind of regard?"

And so it went on - he chewed over these questions like a dog worrying a bone.

One day looking out from his palace, he saw a crowd of people walking along the high road. "Where are all those people going?" he asked his minister.

"Well Sire”, said the minister. “There is a Great Sage who lives in the forest nearby and all these people are on their way to listen to him. He is a highly esteemed spiritual teacher and they say that he can remove doubts on any subject. “Many people turn to him when they are plagued with doubts.

The prince thought to himself: "Well I'm certainly a doubting Thomas, and I shan't believe until I see for myself." So he disguised himself and set off, mingling with the crowd on its way to visit the Great Sage, and  when they reached the sacred grounds where he would speak to the crowd, the prince sat at the saint's feet and listened joyfully to his teachings. Afterwards the flock of people melted away as everyone went back to his own home, but the king continued to sit at the saint's feet. When the Holy Man stood up his shawl got tangled and ripped. He immediately got out some cotton to mend it but had difficulty threading the needle.

The king, who was still in disguise, offered him his own shawl to replace the torn one. "Swami[1]," he said," your shawl is old. Please accept mine which is new."

But the Holy Man replied: "No, I don't want a new one. If you really want to help, thread this needle for me."

The king did as he was told and handed the threaded needle back to the saint, who carried on mending his ripped shawl. When he had finished he turned to the king and said: "Now listen carefully: one way or another all men depend on someone, but you don't need to depend on anyone. You must rely only on God, your inner source of Goodness and Wisdom. I've never been able to understand why people prefer to lean on other people rather than on God. As to me I've always renewed my fervent promise never to be dependent on anyone. I do not like to wait for someone else to come to my assistance - I want to live a self-sufficient and independent life.

These simple words swept away all the king's doubts. We must not rely on anyone; instead we must trust the voice of our own conscience. When you have confidence in yourself you can do anything. With Self-confidence you can have everything, because God is the source of everything that exists."

The king took the sage's words to heart and started to rule his kingdom without seeking the opinion or advice of others. He put into practice whatever rang with truth. In this way he developed discrimination which enabled him to distinguish that which is momentary and ephemeral from that which is eternal.

Sathya Sai, 11.9.'98

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“Self-confidence is confidence in the Atma, i.e. in the Divine Self… ; it is an unwavering love for the Divinity within you. That is very important. What will help you to develop that confidence? Be equalminded, be satisfied with what you have. Be happy.”

Sathya Sai

[1] Swami is a Sanskrit word for a spiritual master