An Emperor’s Taste  

Bhagavan Baba, in the following short story, shows us the importance of controlling the vagaries of the mind.

The Emperor of Delhi, the famous Akbar, was melancholy and depressed. His Empire was prosperous and safe from enemies, both internal and external. The cause of his sadness lay elsewhere. It was the food he ate every day. Of course he had himself shown the preference; the cooks and Birbal, the Superintendent of the imperial kitchen, were not to blame. Nevertheless, he had developed a disgust for meat, for, it was meat, meat, meat—morning, noon, evening, and night.

So he called Birbal into his presence, and commanded that the menu be changed soon. The command was obeyed. Birbal racked his brains for a long while and decided on brinjals [eggplant] for a change. He procured baskets of brinjals, fresh and fine.

He had chutney salad, soup, cutlets, and sweet, savory, and bitter dishes all prepared from brinjal. Akbar relished every item and praised Birbal to the skies. It was brinjal breakfast, brinjal lunch, brinjal dinner. Thus it went on merrily for a few days—but, for a few days only!

Akbar grew disgusted with brinjals, too. He poured all his wrath on Birbal and Birbal had to switch over to something else. For likes and dislikes are but fancies of the moment; the mind wavers, flits from one thing to another. One has to realize this and be steady, adhering to the good and avoiding the injurious. Establish mastery over the mind or the mind will ride you into ruin. The mind is a bundle of desires. Give up desire; the mind disappears.

~Baba
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1973