Sustained, Concentrated Effort

After taking advice from an elderly neighbor, a man began to dig a well in his field. After much effort he had gone down about twenty feet. Then another villager passed by. "What are you doing?" the villager asked incredulously. "Why on earth are you digging there? You´re digging in the wrong place. You should be digging about a hundred yards to the east. There you can easily get water."

So the man began his well again at the new spot. When he was about ten feet down, however, someone else came and laughed at him. “You fool,” he said. “Why are you wasting your time? Don’t you know where to dig for water? Just dig twenty yards to the west of that mango tree over there, and surely you’ll quickly hit water.”

As the day went on, a number of people came and offered different advice, and the man followed it every time. Eventually, his field was pockmarked with holes, but he had found no water. Just as he was beginning his tenth hole, the elderly man who had recommended digging at the first spot came by, saw what had happened, and said, “You’ve been working hard and have made many small holes, but had you done so much digging at the first spot you certainly would have found water by now!”

Insight:

This story hints at the secret of life. Krishna consciousness can be attained by sustained, concentrated effort. Krishna tells Arjuna, ekeha kuru-nandana, "there is only one thing." Don’t deviate to other paths or go off on tangents. Many people may give advice, but best to take advice from one who is experienced and whom you can trust and then stick to it.