Mind, Desires, and Their Fulfillments Once a man went to this great yogi and asked him, "O great yogi, I have been your disciple for a long time but I am not progressing much, what is the problem?"  The yogi said, "It is because you have many desires and so you cannot concentrate on Spirit and the progress of the Soul."  The disciple said, "I have tried hard and it was not working.  I tried to discipline myself and deny myself of my desires, and I always fail." The yogi said, "Ah, then you need to follow the path of Tantra which is to meditate on your desires and see them fulfilled.  Then at the end realize that none of your desires will bring you the peace and happiness."  The disciple said, "But that will take hundreds and thousands of lifetimes because I have many desires.  Is there a faster way to do this?" The yogi hesitated, and the disciple saw that and insisted that there has to be another way.  They yogi reluctantly confessed that, "Yes, there is but it is even more dangerous than the path of Tantra!"  He continued, "It has not been used for centuries as not many people survived the consequences that will come at the end." The disciple asked the yogi what is this that is so dangerous.  The yogi said that there is a incantation that if you repeat it three times a Jinni will appear that has the ability to fulfill all the desires you have.  However, the problem is that you have to have endless desires as this Jinni cannot stay idle.  You have to give him new desires that you have so he can be busy fulfilling them. The disciple laughed out loud and replied, "That is me, I have endless desires that will keep this Jinni busy for lifetimes.  Give me the incantation.  The yogi again warned him that this Jinni is very fast in fulfilling one's desire, etc. but the disciple would not relent and insisted that he knows what he is doing and surely will keep this Jinni busy for a long time. The yogi eventually gave in and told him the incantation, and the disciple was satisfied and happily left and went home.  He prepared himself to meet the Jinni and did all the rituals his master had told him to do to become prepared.  After everything was ready he uttered the incantation three times, and the Jinni appeared, bowed down in front of him, and said: "What can I do for you master?" The man said, "Go build such a castle, with this kind of chandelier, and this kind of marble," etc., and any luxurious thing he could think of.  Half an hour later the Jinni was back and said, "Master, the castle is ready for your enjoyment."  The man was really surprised.  He thought that it would take the Jinni at least a few weeks. The Jinni lifted up the man and took him to his beautiful castle.  However, he has hardly put him down that the Jinni demanded, "What else can I do for you, master?"  As the disciple remembered his teacher told him he has to keep him busy, so he blurted out all his desires left to be fulfilled, and the Jinni fulfilled them one after another with no hesitation. By two in the afternoon the man was out of desires, but he could not enjoy them because the Jinni will not leave him alone and kept asking, "Now what?  What else can I do for you master?  I am bored.  I cannot stay idle, " etc. The disciple now realized that what his master was told him was true and how foolishly he did not listen to him.  He asked the Jinni to take him to his master.  The Jinni took him and flew to where the disciple's master was.  He ran to the yogi and threw himself in front of him in complete prostration and said, "Master, please forgive my foolishness, you were right.  I am out of desires and this Jinni is going to kill me, PLEASE HELP!" The yogi smiled and said, "There is only one way to stop the Jinni from killing you.  However, it requires a great sacrifice on your part."  The disciple said, "Anything that you ask, I will do to gain my peace of mind and return to the Grace of God."  He said, "You have to overcome your desires and give up all the fulfilled desires that the Jinni has brought to you, and then and only then you can use this solution." The disciple said, "I will do anything, I will give up everything that the Jinni has given me, I forego all my attachments and desires that I have had ever and what I asked the Jinni to bring to me, just give me the peace of mind that I am not threatened with this Jinni and am free of him." So he gave up all the beautiful things the Jinni had brought him, and all the desires and attachments he had.  While he was trying to overcome all these, the yogi told him, "Give the Jinni a tail of a dog and tell him to keep it straight.  Anytime he straightens it up and lets it go, the tail will curve back.  This will keep the Jinni busy forever.  However, if you ever fail and have another desire that you ask the Jinni to fulfill, this trick will no longer work and he will return and will demand to be kept busy." The yogi explained to the disciple that, "In reality, the Jinni is our mind.  Through the mind, we fulfill our desires.  However, the mind will never be satisfied and will demand more desires and their fulfillments.  Any desire that is fulfilled causes us to become attached to what we desire and the subject of our desire.  Attachment bring more desires, and the wheel goes on.  We will never have time to enjoy what God has given us as we always have to keep the mind busy and fulfilling our desires. To overcome the mind and the desires, we have to simplify our lives and be satisfied with what God gives us.  To accomplish this, we meditate and so overcome any desire left in us.  The Word (and the Universal Mantra) that is given to us is that tail of the dog that keeps the mind busy so we can enjoy God's Blessings and our lives.  However, if we forget and fall into this world again it will be even harder to return to the Peace and Grace of God!