Once, a dog living in Varanasi thought of going to Delhi. When so many people are running to Delhi, it is not surprising that a dog also should get the idea of going to Delhi. Times have changed. There was a time when people were going from Delhi to Varanasi ; now people from Varanasi want to go to Delhi. The dogs of Varanasi decided to send their representative, their leader to Delhi. They sent a message to the dogs of Delhi to receive him, to make his reservation in the Circuit House there and to tell them that it would take a month for him to reach there by foot. The dog must have been of the Indian mind, traveling like the sages of olden days, always on foot.
The dogs in Delhi were waiting to receive the leader. They were accustomed to receiving leaders anyway; it was their daily routine. And now a leader from their own species was coming, so they had planned a big reception. But it so happened that that dog reached Delhi in seven days. The dogs in Delhi were very surprised. They had seen leaders coming, but never so fast that one reached Delhi in seven days. Reaching Delhi takes a long time; by the time life is about to end people reach there. That is why Delhi becomes their graveyard. But this dog reached there in seven days... smarter than human beings!
He was asked, "How come you reached here in seven days?"
The dog replied, "Don't ask. Our own friends, our own kinfolk have done this! Where the Varanasi dogs saw me off, soon the dogs of the other village ran after me, chasing me. Where they left me alone, at the borders of another village, the dogs of this third village began chasing me. I did not get any time to rest and recoup anywhere, could not stop anywhere. I have come running non-stop to Delhi!" While telling them this, he fell down and died. Whosoever runs non-stop enters death, not life. But the dog completed his journey -- he had the passion to run to Delhi and there were dogs all around to make him run!
We are doing the same thing to our children: "Go to Delhi!" All the people around you go on chasing you; your parents chase you in childhood, and your wife when you are an adult. When you are old, your children are after you, "Go on! Go to Delhi! It is necessary to reach Delhi -- there is no meaning in life without that."
This is the type of fever we create in the minds of children. This fever of ambition is so high that the child runs like mad. This is what we call the speed of life. Can this speed liberate you? No, it can lead you to death but not to liberation. Most of us only die in this process, we don't become liberated. The path of liberation is different.
