KARMIC ASTROLOGY BOOKS  MARTIN SCHULMAN

In an ancient time long ago in a far off land there was a young man who lived in a small village.

He watched those older than him with much admiration. Especially, he watched the brave swordsmen, vowing to himelf that one day he would be like them. Each day he would sneak off to watch them and each night he would dream of himself becoming one of them. This went on for some time, until finally one night, he could take it no longer.

While the elders of the village slept, he packed his belongings and with some fear but much anxiousness, he quietly crept amidst the shadows until the village slowly got smaller behind him, as he headed off to a distant land, where he heard there resided the greataest swordsman in all of the world.

He traveled for many days, stopping only to rest and ask directions in passing villages along the way. As the days passed, his curiosity got the better of him and he spent much of his time wondering what this greatg swordsman would be like.

Exhausted from the arduous journey he finally reached the village where this great swordsman lived. At the end of a long row of huts, there was one which seemed to be set apart from the others, almost as if reigning above them. From what the villagers had told him, he knew this to be the home of the great swordsman he was seeking.

He had heard many things of this man, mostly that he was a master and this made him feel somewhat frightened as he knocked upon the door of the hut, trying to stand as tall as his short frame would allow and gather as much courage as he could find.

He could hear a creaking whoosh as the door gave way to the form of a powerful man wearing a shiny sword at his side..

At first his presence seemed overwhelming, and as their eyes met, the young man felt that there was little about this man that he could understand.

"What brings you here?" the Swordmaster asked, with a patient smile.

"I want to learn to be a great Swordsman. Will you teach me?" the words stuttered with anxiousness, the struggles of the long journey and the desperate expectations of youth trying to reach beyhond its years for something not yet understood.

The Swordsman looked at him intensely as if to read the young man through and through, yet hardly showing him any indication that he was doing that.

The many years as a Swordsman had taught the Master not to show emotions prematurely before sizing up a situation and understanding it fully. He could feel the impatience of the young man, his anxiousness and inexperience with life.

"Perhaps I can teach you, but it will take some time and you must do everything I say."

The young man's eyes gleamed, "Oh yes, anything!" he agreed instantly..

From that day forward, a long and very special relationship began between the Swordmaster and the young man. He took the boy into his home, spending time and meals with him and slowly assigning him chores.

At first, the youth was eager to please and would draw water form the well, do the cleaning chores and scrub pots.

Each night the Swordmaster would spend time with him, telling him stories about life and each day he would instruct the young man to do more chores. Yet, never in any of this instruction did he tell the young man anything about wielding a sword.

The days turned into weeks and months. The young man began to grow restless. He would stare quietly at the pots he was scrubbing and asked himself.....

'How could this possibly make me a swordsman? I do not understand.'

Gradually he grew more discontented. He would stare at the Swordmaster, always wanting to ask him when would his sword instruction begin, but the Swordmaster would only smile at him quietly, nodding his head gently, as if to encourage the young man to get on with his chores.

Soon the young man began to dream of when he could wield a sword. As he would go about his chores, he became more impatient, stealing looks at the swords hanging on the wall of the hut, thinking about the battles the Swordmaster must have been through. His demeaner grew more intense. There was an edge to his character as each pot he scrubbed seemed to be another obstacle to his learning.

'When would he be allowed to pick up a sword and why was the Swordmaster stalling him?' He could not answer these questions and every time he looked at the Swordmaster wanting to ask, the Master would bow slightly in respect, and nod as if to reassure him that all was well. Yet, all was not well with the young man as he seemed to be getting further and further from his goal.

The Master observed him carefully every day, never letting on to what he saw. He could feel the young man shaping his consciousness to a one-mindedness of purpose, growing constantly angrier at distracitons.

Then one day, when he saw the young man exhasperated beyond all hope of ever becoming a swordsman, angry at all the time he had put in seemingly to no avail, and thinking he might never be taught how to wield a sword, the Master approached him...

"You must put down the pots you are scrubbing," he said, and without any other words, he handed the young man the shiniest sword he had ever seen..

The young man taken completely by surprise, picked up the sword as it was given to him and suddenly there was an understanding within him that immediately overcame all the waiting and struggles in consciousness he had been through.

In a time much shorter than you could possibly imagine, the young man became the greatest Swordsman in all the land!