2.2.3 The ‘Diamond Farm’

…not far from river Yala, there once lived a farmer by the name Hemed, who owned a large farm with orchards, grain fields, and gardens.  He was a wealthy and contented man;- Contented because he was wealthy and wealthy because he was contented.  One day he was visited by a priest, a wise man from the East.  The priest sat by the fire and told Mr. Hemed how the world was made.

“He said the Almighty thrust a finger into the fog and slowly turned it round and round, increasing the speed until it gradually became a ball of fire.  Then he said the ball of fire rolled through out the universe, burning its way through other cosmic fogbanks and condensing the moisture until it fell in floods of rain upon its surface, which cooled the outer crust.

“When the melted mass burst out and very quickly cooled, it became granite.  That which cooled less quickly became silver and even less quickly, gold.  “And diamonds; said the priest, diamonds are congealed drops of sunlight.’  Declaring diamonds the highest of God’s mineral creations; the priest said that one stone the size of Hemed’s thumb could purchase the whole country.  If Hemed had a mine of diamonds, he could place his children on the thrones of the countries throughout the world.

Hemed went to bed that night a poor man – poor because he was discontented and discontented because he thought he was poor. ‘I want a diamond mine,’ he repeated to himself throughout his sleepless night.  He woke the priest early the next morning.  “Will you tell me where I can find diamonds?” he asked.  “Diamonds,’ said the priest. ‘What do you want with diamonds?’  “I want to be immensely rich,’ replied the Mr. Hemed candidly.  “Then go along and find them, that’s all you must do,’ advised the priest.  “But I don’t know where to go,’ Mr. Hemed pleaded.  “Well,’ said the priest, ‘if you look for a river that runs over white sands between high mountains, you will always find diamonds in those sands’  “I don’t believe any such river exists,’ Mr, Hemed challenged.  “Of course, it does.  There are many of them,’ said the priest. ‘All you have to do is find them’

Mr. Hemed went to the window and looked out; his gaze fixed on the mountains that bordered his farm.  ‘I believe you.  I will go! He resolved.  “He sold his farm and collected his money.  Leaving his family in a neighbour’s care, he went off in search of diamonds, starting with the nearest mountains.  Next, he searched in Taita hills in the coast.  Finally, he wandered River Tana.  When the last of his money had been spent, he stood in rags at Kilifi bay of Malindi, watching the waves roll in.  Soon the penniless, hopelessly wretched man cast himself into the oncoming tide and sank beneath the water, never to rise again.

“One day the man who had purchased Hemed’s farm led his camel into the garden to drink.  As the beast lapped, the brook’s clear water, Hemed’s successor noticed a curious flash in the shallow stream’s white sands.  Reaching into the water, he withdrew a black pebble with an eye of light that reflected all the colours of the rainbow.  He took the curious stone into the house, put it on the mantel, and returned to his chores.   “Some days later, the priest visited him.  The moment the priest saw the gleam from the mantel, he rushed to it.  “There is diamond here!’ he shouted.  ‘A diamond! Has Hemed returned?’  “No, he hasn’t returned and that’s no diamond, the new owner answered.  It’s nothing but a stone from out there in the garden.’  “But I know a diamond when I see one,’  the priest insisted, ‘and I tell you that’s what this is, a beautiful diamond’.  “Together they rushed to the garden stream.  They stirred the white sands with their fingers, and they discovered more stones, even more beautiful and valuable than the first.  Thus was the diamond mine of Yala discovered – the most magnificent in history, exceeding even the Kimberly diamond mine?  For decades, every shovel from near that stream revealed gems that would decorate the crowns of monarchs.  Had Hemed remained at home and dug in his own garden instead of wandering aimlessly into a life of frustration, poverty, and suicide in a strange land, he would have had acres of diamonds”.

No story in the literature of mankind better illustrates that your greatest riches are within your own reach, in your own backyard.  You can stop looking on the outside wealth and happiness.  Water yourself, immerse yourself in the awareness that your acres of diamonds are within you.  Mine them and you will be rich.

Questions

What lessons should we learn from this story?