In very ancient times, in the city of Jerusalem, lived a sage by the name of Nathan. When the Sultan Saladin captured the city, he heard tell of Nathan and commanded that he be brought before him. Saladin asked this wise man seven questions, and one of them was this: ‘Which is the most perfect religion: Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity or Islam?’

Nathan replied, ‘I’ll tell you a story. There was once a king who possessed a magic ring which made him all-powerful, and thanks to this magic power, his kingdom was never troubled by war, disease or disaster. Now the king had three sons who were all equally dear to him and, when he felt that he was getting old, he could not make up his mind which son should inherit his ring. Then he thought of a solution; he called the court goldsmith to him and told him to make two copies of the magic ring.

This he did, and, when the king shuffled the three rings together, they were so alike that even he could not tell which was the original. Then the king called each of his sons to him in turn and said the same thing to each of them: “My son, I love you very dearly; I am going to give you a third of my kingdom and, in secret, you shall also have my magic ring.” The king himself did not know which son had received the magic ring, but each of them was convinced that he had it.’

Read the remainder of this story in tomorrow’s post…

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Complete Works, Vol. 1, The Second Birth, Love, Wisdom, Truth
Chapter 1