Stepping Over The Bag Of Gold
by Rachel Naomi Remen

[Listen to Audio!]

My patient, a physician who has cancer, comes to his session enormously pleased with himself. Knowing my love of stories, he says that he has found a perfect story and tells me the following parable:

Shiva and Shakti, the Divine Couple in Hinduism, are in their heavenly abode watching over the earth. They are touched by the challenges of human life, the complexity of human reactions, and the ever-present place of suffering in the human experience. As they watch, Shakti spies a miserably poor man walking down a road. His clothes are shabby and his sandals are tied together with a rope. Her heart is wrung with compassion. Touched by his goodness and his struggle, Shakti turns to her divine husband and begs him to give this man some gold. Shiva looks at the man for a long moment. "My Dearest Wife," he says, "I cannot do that." Shakti is astounded. "Why, what do you mean, Husband? You are the Lord of the Universe. Why can't you do this simple thing?"

"I cannot give this to him because he is not yet ready to receive it," Shiva replies. Shakti becomes angry. "Do you mean to say that you cannot drop a bag of gold in his path?"

"Surely I can," Shiva replies, "but that is quite another thing."

"Please, Husband," says Shakti.

And so Shiva drops a bag of gold in the man's path.

The man meanwhile walks along thinking to himself, "I wonder if I will find dinner tonight--or shall I go hungry again?" Turning a bend in the road, he sees something on the path in his way. "Aha," he says. "Look there, a large rock. How fortunate that I have seen it. I might have torn these poor sandals of mine even further." And carefully stepping over the bag of gold, he goes on his way.

It seems that Life drops many bags of gold in our path. Rarely do they look like what they are.

Share the Wisdom:

Latest Community Insights

Stepping Over The Bag Of Gold How do you relate to the notion of being ready to receive the gifts life places in our way? Can you share a personal story of a time you recognized the gold that life placed on your path? What helps you see gold in every experience?

Rahul Brown wrote: In the most perceptive and grounded viewpoint, its not that Life drops many bags of gold in our path. Its actually that there is nothing but gold on our path. What keeps us from seeing it? We're d...

Jagdish P Dave wrote: There are times when life offersa "bag of gold" or golden opportunities to us in our path of life. How come we don't see them? As the saying states, " Beauty is in the eye of the be...

Kristin Pedemonti wrote: Love this! We see what we are ready to see. Oh my goodness yes in recognizing in my own life. I am currently driving across the US donating and sharing very low-cost workshops for survivors of trauma:...

David Doane wrote: I totally agree that there are many gifts of gold that life places in our path that we step over if we're not ready to receive them. Gifts are always there and we receive those that we are ready f...

Kristin Pedemonti wrote: Thank you Somik for posting on my behalf. Testing to see if I can post. I'm using Chrome...

Share/Read Your Reflections