The Cup and the Wine
A
drunkard went to a wine-seller and asked for a cup of wine. Sorry, said the
seller, there is a lot of wine in several containers but not a single cup is
available in my bar today.
Doesn’t
matter, said the thirsty drunkard, I will turn one of my hands into the shape
of a cup and sip the wine. What is really
need is the wine, not the cup. The wine is the soul of the cup. It is the wine which
quenches my thirst. Have you ever seen a
drunkard swallowing a cup? No, replied the wine seller, but asked: “Do you mean
to say that a cup has no value?” It has,
said the drunkard, but not so much as the wine.
A drunkard can do without the cup but not without the wine.
Okay,
said the wine-seller. In future, I will give you the wine without the cup, even
if cups are available in my bar.
No, no, no. The cup,
too, it has its importance. It can hold
the wine for years together, while my cupped hand cannot do so for more than a
minute or so. The container does have a purpose, but not as much as the
content. Look at the human body, it is lifeless
if it does not have a soul within. Likewise, the soul is unsheltered without
the body. Yet, the soul is more important
than the body because the body cannot breathe without it.
The
wine seller let the dialogue stop there. The drunkard, too, did not like to prolong
it because his thirst could no longer wait for the wine
-------G.R.KANWAL
