“I read many books in my life, but I don’t remember most of the information I got from them. So what’s the use of reading so many books?”, a student asked his teacher.
The teacher did not answer on the day the question was asked.
After a few days, the student and the teacher met by a river in the town.
The teacher gave the student a pot with holes and said – “Go, fetch water from the river”. As he was giving him the pot, it fell on the ground and gathered much dirt.
The student felt a little confused, as it was not possible to fetch water in a pot with holes. But the teacher must not be disobeyed. So he picked up the pot from the ground and ran to the river to fetch water.
He filled the pot and started walking towards the teacher, but could not go far. After taking a few steps, the water leaked through the holes to the ground.
He tried a few more times with the same result and became frustrated.
He however persevered with many more attempts without success and he became very tired.
Then he went back to the teacher and said – “I have failed, I cannot fetch water with this vessel. It is not possible for me, forgive me.”
Hearing the student, the teacher gave a gentle smile and said – “No, you have not failed. Look at the pot, it is clean now, it looks like a brand new pot. Every time the water leaks through the holes, it clears the dirt in the pot. The same thing happens to you when you read a book, your brain is like a vessel with holes, and the information in the book is like water. So when you read a book you cannot remember everything. But whether you read a book and remember all the information is not that important. Because the ideas, knowledge, emotions, feelings, realisations and truths you find in reading books clear your mind. Every time you finish reading a book you undergo a spiritual transformation, you are reborn, thus becoming a purer human being. . That is the main purpose of reading books.”