A young child went to a holy man and stated that no matter how hard he tried to keep prayers and hymns in his heart, he just could not understand or keep it. He stated that his mind was not a bucket, but a strainer which let everything pass through and did not contain the meaning of the prayers. The holy man said ” Let us try an experiment. Here is a strainer, and here is some water. Now pour a bucket of water through the strainer.” The child did this and said “See, the water was not contained, it just passed through, my mind is just like this”. The holy man said “Do it once more” and so he did and still the water passed through the strainer. The holy man said. “Do it ten times at least”. The child did, and at the end of this experiment, he said ” See, water still passes through, no matter how many times and how many buckets we pass through it” .
The holy man said “Look carefully at the strainer and see if there is anything different.” The child did and his eyes were filled with tears, and he said “Yes, I see the difference now. The grimy dirty strainer is now shiny and bright, like never before.”
The holy man said “My son, this is what reading and reciting prayers does for you. It cleans your mind, and even if you do not realize it, it slowly cleanses your mind, and protects you from the evil vices in life. The more you read and recite prayers, your mind will not only become shinier, but become like the bucket itself, which will not only become clean , but hold the meaning of the prayers in your heart”.
The child smiled and felt he had received the best example of the power of reading and reciting prayers ever. Prayers with a devoted mind is that detergent that cleanses the mind of its dirt. The more we do, the cleaner our inner self will be.
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