335. The salt of life

The old wise Hindu master was getting tired of listening to the constant complaints of his apprentice.
Therefore, he thought that he should teach his apprentice something which would make him reflect on.


One morning, the master asked his apprentice to bring him some salt.
When he came back his master asked him to put a handful of salt into a glass of water, and drink it.
"What does the water taste like?", the wise old man asked him.
“Very salty and terrible”, said the apprentice.


Wanting to laugh, his master told him to do it again, but instead of putting the salt into a glass, he told his apprentice to throw the handful of salt into a lake.
So, they slowly walked together to a large lake situated in the middle of a forest near his village.


When the apprentice threw the salt into the lake, the old man asked him to drink some water from the lake.
“What does it taste like now?”, his master asked.
“The water is delicious and fresh. It doesn´t taste like salt at all.


Then the wise old man took his apprentice´s hands and told him.
“The pain of life is pure salt”.

There is always the same amount, however its taste depends on the receptacle that contains the sorrow.

Therefore, when you suffer from the adversities of life, enlarge the meaning of things.


"Stop being a glass and simply become a lake".



Vocabulary
wise = sabio
getting tired = cansando
complaints = quejas
apprentice = aprendiz
therefore = por tanto
should = deberia
came back = regresara
handful = puñado
what does the water taste like? = que sabor tiene el agua?
again = otra vez
instead = en lugar de
throw = tirar
together = juntos
forest = bosque
threw = tiró
at all = en absoluto
took = cogio
always = siempre
receptacle = recipiente
sorrow = pena
enlarge = agrandar
meaning = sentido