The Blacksmith's Chains

 

 

There lived a famous blacksmith in Rome, famed all over the world for his unmatched skills. Everything he made was unbreakable; hence, all his goods were respected worldwide and sold in distant markets.

One day, Rome was attacked and lost in the war. 30 eminent men of Rome were captured and chained, then led to the mountains to die. The blacksmith was among them. The plan was to throw them off a high cliff to their death. As they waited to be thrown, the 29 men were in anguish and crying. Only the blacksmith was calm. One of his fellow prisoners asked him why he seemed so calm.

The blacksmith replied, “Don’t worry, I am a blacksmith, and all my life I have been making shackles and handcuffs. I know how to unlock them. Once we are thrown, I will untie myself and then I will help you. Don’t be afraid and don’t panic.”

The men were all thrown off by their captors. They all managed to survive and dragged themselves to where the blacksmith had landed. When they reached him, they saw that he was crying. Astonished, one of the men asked, “What is the matter? Why are you crying? Just now you were giving us the courage and you were calm. What happened?”

The blacksmith replied, “I am crying because when I looked closely at these chains, I saw my signature on them. I made these chains. All the chains I made cannot be broken. Had they been made by other people, I could have broken them, but my chains cannot be broken even by me! It is impossible to escape from our predicament.”

This is a fable told by a monk about the principle of Karma. It is every man’s story. One day, you will find that the chains you created by yourself are strangling you to death. In life, we create cages and seal all doors and windows of escape, then we walk into the cage and the door shuts us in!

Which chains are you currently forging in your workshop? Are they chains of greed – never being content with what you have, always craving more? Chains of deceit – never telling the truth and always juggling lies? Chains of the soft life – never building discipline and always taking the easy way out? Chains of addiction to things you know will harm you eventually?

As the blacksmith learned, you may be producing top-quality goods in your forge and exporting your chains far and wide. However, eventually, those chains will come back and tie you – and because you specialized in ensuring your chains were tamper-proof, Karma will be your uninvited guest. Choose your habits, your words, and your vows of today carefully. They may be your shackles of tomorrow.

“Be careful that the decisions that you ‘make’ are not forging the chains that you cannot ‘unmake’ because those are the chains that will eventually ‘unmake’ you.” ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” ~ Warren Buffet

“We forge the chains we wear in life.” ~ Charles Dickens

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