Spiritual Conditioning

Once upon a time, two of Lord Buddha's diciples were traversing across India.
Of both men of the robe, one was rather gentle and big in size, while the other
was petitely built with a fury of a man twice his size. During their journey they
reached a river which they had to cross. The currents were strong as torrents
of water pounded against the river rocks. As they were about to cross they took
notice of a pretty young woman trying to cross the river as well. She was weakly
built and she would have been swept by the currents as easily as the dry leaves
in the summer. The bigger sized monk offered the young woman to sit on his back
so he can help her across. The small sized monk was perplexed. Being men of the
robe they were not allowed to come in contact with the opposite sex. He kept a
angry, frustrated and disappointed demeanor as his giant brother ferried the sweet
young thing across the river. The demeanor remained for the rest of the journey,
while the big sized monk remained nonchalant. Throughout the rest of the journey
the small monk was quiet and cold. Upon reaching their monastery he couldn't hold
it in any longer and yelled at the bigger monk.

"How could you come in contact with that woman?! It is against our teachings!!!"

The big sized monk still maintaining his calm, uttered words that filled his small
sized brother with guilt.

"I have merely carried the woman as far as the other side of the river. How come you're still carrying her along?"

Sometimes in life without realizing we would carry excess baggage of unpleasant
thoughts, feelings and grudges from the past. Obstacles and conflict get in our way
every once in a while. It is only wise that we learn from them. However we truly
only learn from these incidents when we have learnt to let them go. Life is short,
do not let the weight of these excess baggage hinder your journey :)