Once upon a time, in a village, there lived a man who was always troubled by one or another problem and was not happy with his life. One day, he learned that his Zen master, with his disciple, had come to his town. The man decided to go to the Zen master. In the evening, he went to his place and, after waiting for a while, he got to meet the Zen master. He said, "Oh wise one, I am very unhappy with my life. I am surrounded by problems all the time, sometimes work problems, and sometimes health problems, sometimes problems at home, and sometimes some other kinds of problems. Please tell me a way so that all my problems should end, and I can live a peaceful and happy life." The Zen master smiled and said, "My dear friend, I will give you a solution tomorrow morning, but meanwhile, can you do me a small favor?" The man agreed, and the Zen master continued, "A rich merchant of this town has gifted me 100 camels. I am taking them with me. I want you to take care of them tonight. When all 100 camels sit down, then you two go to sleep." Saying this, the Zen master went to his tent, and the man went to look after the camels for the night.
The next morning, the Zen master went to the man and asked, "Dear, did you have a good sleep last night?" The man became sad and replied, "Sir, I could not even sleep for a moment. I tried a lot, but I could not get all camels to sit together at a time. Some camels sat down, but some did not sit despite my efforts. If one sat, some will stand from some other side, and this went on all night. There has not been a time overnight when all the camels would sit down." The Zen master smiled and said, "If I am not wrong, this is what happened last night. There were many camels who sat at night, many others sat because of your efforts, and others did not even sit after trying to make them sit, and then later you found that some of them sat with the passage of time." The man replied, "Yes, that's exactly what happened."
The Zen master continued, "Now, do you understand something? You see, problems in our life are just like that. Some will solve themselves, some will be solved with your efforts, and some will not be solved even with effort. Leave these kinds of problems on time; they will solve them at the right time by themselves. Last night, you experienced that no matter how much you try, you can't get all camels to sit at the same time. If you make one camel sit, then the other will be standing somewhere else. In the same way, if you solve a problem, then you will see some other problem standing there. It is life; problems are part of life. Sometimes it is less, and sometimes there are too many problems. Problems are part of life, but it does not mean that you keep thinking about them all the time. You keep them aside and keep moving forward. Learn to grow towards the purpose of your life."
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