One day, a priest and his disciple arrived to the big city. They had no money with them, but they needed food and a place to stay. The disciple was sure that they were going to beg for their food, and sleep in the park at night. “There is a big park not far from here. We can sleep there at night”, said the disciple. “In the open air?” Asked the priest.”Yes”, responded the student. The priest smiled and said: “No, tonight we are going to sleep in a hotel and eat there too”. The student was amazed. “How?””Come and sit down”, said the priest.
They both sat down on the ground and the priest said:”When you focus your mind intently on any subject, it comes to pass.” The priest closed his eyes and started to meditate with full concentration. After about ten minutes he got up and started to walk, with his disciple following him. They walked through several streets and alleys, until they arrived to a hotel.
“Come, let’s enter inside”, the priest said to his disciple. They just set foot in the entrance, when a well-dressed man approached them. “I am the manager of this hotel. You look like travelling priests and I believe you have no money. Would you like to work in the kitchen, and in return I’ll give you food and a place to stay?” “Fine”, responded the priest.
The disciple was perplexed and asked the priest: “Did you use any magic? How did you do that?” The priest smiled and said, “I wanted to show you how the power of thoughts works. When you think with full and strong concentration about something that you want to happen, and your mind does not resist the subject of your thought, your thought materializes.”
“The secret is concentrating, visualizing, seeing details, having faith and projecting mental and emotional energy into the mental scene. These are the general prerequisites. When your mind is empty from thoughts, and only one single thought is allowed to enter, it gains a very great power. One should be very careful with what he thinks. A concentrated thought is powerful, and exerts a very strong influence.”
The disciple looked at his teacher and said: “I see that I have to sharpen my concentration in order to be able to use this power.”
“Yes, this is the first step”, responded the priest.
