"I am a beggar and I ask only one thing. I have got this begging bowl; can you fill it up – with anything you like?'

"The beggar looked a little strange. His eyes were those of a mystic; his speaking was not that of a beggar but of an emperor. His whole aura was of tremendous authority. The king ordered his prime minister to fill the beggar's bowl with gold coins, so that he would remember that he had knocked on the door of a king, and that he was fortunate. The beggar laughed.

"The king said, 'What is the matter?'

"He said, 'By the evening everything will be decided.' His behavior was strange but very attractive too. He was a beautiful man.

"And then the trouble started. As the prime minister brought a bag of gold coins to fill the bowl, they all disappeared, and the bowl remained empty. More coins, more coins…all the coins that were in the treasury were brought, and they all disappeared. The whole town gathered there and the news spread like wildfire.

"The king said, 'Whatever the case, bring all the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, but fill the beggar's bowl.' But everything disappeared in it and the bowl remained as empty as ever.

"Finally the king lost everything. It was evening. The whole day there had been great excitement all over the capital. The king was stubborn – but now there was no point, he had nothing else to give. He fell at the feet of the beggar and asked him the secret of the bowl. 'Is it a magic bowl? It is evening and you have been telling me again and again, 'By the evening, by sunset, everything will be decided.' Now it is time. And in a way everything is decided, I have been defeated by a beggar. But you are not an ordinary beggar. All I want to know is, what is the secret of this begging bowl?'

"The beggar said, 'It is not a secret, it is something everybody knows. Just look closely at the begging bowl. It is made of the skull of a man.'

"The king said, 'I don't understand.'

"The beggar said, 'Nobody understands."