No Rose without a Thorn

No Rose without a Thorn One who is born in affluence and has a problem-free life, very soon finds his mind becoming dul, while one who is born into a life of problems and hardship, has an active mind. E very man and woman wants peace of mind. But it is hard to find an individual who can say that he has attained such a state of mental equilibrium as will allow him to live a life of tranquillity. Peace of mind is a distant dream for all of us. What is the reason for this? The reason is that people hanker after ideal peace, that is, pure peace—a peace that is free from all kinds of nonpeace items. But this kind of absolute peace is not in nature’s storehouse. Let us take the analogy of the rose. A rose is a very beautiful flower, but every stem has its thorns. Indeed, thorns are an integral part of the rose plant. A poet has rightly said that thorns serve as security guards for the flower. The translation of his Urdu lines is: ‘The safety of the flower would become impossible if the thorns were silk-like.’ So flowers have to be accompanied by thorns. There must be hard thorns along with soft flowers—that is, there must be non-peace items along with peaceful items. A peaceful mind is a very precious