The Day When a Lady Burned Her House Down

Simple Stories, Big Lessons

After years of saving, a lady finally bought a gold necklace. It was a big deal for her since she had always struggled financially, and buying gold jewelry was her dream. She had equated a gold chain with success and social recognition. She was the only lady without one in her village.

When, one day, she bought the chain, she could not maintain her happiness. She wore it and started dancing in the middle of the street. Noone stopped to ask why she was so happy. Or how she managed to buy such an expensive item.

That day, the lady stopped at her neighbor’s house. She assumed they would notice her glowing chain around her neck. They chatted about life for a while, but the necklace never came up.

She played her finger over her necklace; pretended to itch her neck, hoping the neighbor would see her success, her accomplishment. But nothing worked.

She went to her friend’s house and tried the same thing. She had imagined people would stop and ask her about the jewelry; she thought they would talk to her about her success and congratulate her. But, alas, no one did.

After trying a couple of more times in vain, she went home in the evening. She poured gasoline along the walls and lit her house on fire.

She came outside, kneeled on the ground, and started crying. People noticed the poor lady’s house on fire. The entire village came to help. All anyone could see was a burning house and the greaving lady with a necklace around her neck.

The neighbor she visited earlier approached and asked, “I am so sorry your house is burning down. It might not be the right time, but I have to ask you something. I love your gold necklace. Where did you get it?”

The lady reacted, “You fool! Why didn’t you ask that earlier? I would still have a house left.”

The story rings true, especially today when people act weird to get attention on their online content. Remember the recent accident when the famous Youtuber David Dobrik nearly killed vlogger Jeff Wittek?

Here are some other relevant old stories that you will enjoy.

Be wealthy before you become a philosopher.

Siddhartha Gautama was a prince before he left his palace. The story goes that his father, Suddhodana, was scared that Siddhartha would leave his kingdom to be a monk. Therefore Suddhodana surrounded his son with all the luxury of his time to tempt young Siddhartha inside the palace. He was a king, after all.

Yet, all the luxuries just made young Gautama resent his lifestyle, and he ultimately left his palace to be a monk. Siddhartha later became Buddha.

The moral of the story is we can’t leave castles we don’t own. If you don’t have enough money, you will never venture out on the spiritual journey. Money is too big of a problem to ignore. Meditation just becomes an expensive buzzword you can’t afford.

If Suddhodana wanted to keep Buddha inside his palace, he should have sent him off to do hard labor. Perhaps, then, Siddhartha would have stayed to be a king.

Who am I?

Once a monk entered a palace asking for some food and a place to sleep for the night. When the king saw the monk’s poor condition, he offered a place for him where he could stay forever.

The monk refused to accept the place, but the king demanded that he should take it. So, they traveled to the nearest town to see this hut. After reaching there, the king gladly pointed the monk towards a cottage.

The monk asked, “Where is the house?” With his chest up, the king pointed, “It’s the red one.” “I see a brick wall. Is that the house?” The Monk asked. “No.” The king looked bewildered. “I see a brown door. Is that the house you were talking about?” “No, lord!” “I see wooden pillars. Is that the house you were talking about?” “No!” “So, where is the house?” The monk asked.

While the story does not go beyond that, my introspections did. It compelled me to ask the fundamental question humans have been thinking about for the longest time.

Who am I?

What do I want?

I am not sure if I will ever have answers to these questions, but they are worth asking.

The Death.

Once, a lady asked Buddha to bring back her dead son. She expressed she could no longer bear the pain because all her children had died. She challenged if he was spiritual, as he claimed, he should bring back her dead kid.

Buddha agreed, but first, he asked her to bring some sesame seeds from the family where no one had ever died. The lady went looking but came back empty-handed a week later. She realized life is temporary for everyone, not just her kids.

Everyone suffers in life, be it a mental or physical struggle. Most problems we face in our lives are universal.

After almost 2500 years of Buddha’s passing, we still struggle with death. We have advanced, but all our problems are ancient.

Not just death or poverty, but problems like an identity crisis and mental health issues are some common problems everyone faces. We are all trying to figure out our lives. We are a part of the group trying to overcome the same hurdles.

I hope this helps you somewhat in your journey.

If you enjoyed this, please check out my other piece.