Once upon a Yogi time there lived a man with a problem:  Too much noise!  We shall call our man with a problem ... Mr. Man.

Mr. Man lived with a wife and two daughters and a very vocal mother-in-law.  Day and night his housemates chattered away and away, and away.  Oy!  Such a headache!  He could not sleep most nights.

Mr. Man had heard of a most wise Swami, who, as luck would have it, was passing through his small town that very day!  Mr. Man thought, "Aha!  This wise sage will have the solution to my problem."

So bright and early, Mr. Man put on his most presentable dhoti, combed his beard and hair, and quickly went in search of the sage.  Since it was a small town, this was easy enough to do.  He learned that the sage was in a cave (as sages were prone to frequent) at the top of a fairly high hill.  This did not daunt our seeker of wisdom, as up the hill he journeyed.  Mr. Man arrived a bit winded, but eager to tell his tale of woe.  He hoped to find an easy solution to his problem.
 
 

The Swami said,  "My son, it sounds as though you have a terrible burden.  I will be most happy to help you solve your problem, but you must follow exactly what I tell you and do not question it."

"Oh, yes, Swami-Ji, anything you say, yessiree - you're the boss!"

The sage said, "Okedokee -- tonight I want you to bring your cow in the house to stay."

Mr. Man's eyes bulged out of his head and started to babble.  Our sage said, "What is the problem?  Don't you have a cow?"

Mr. Man said, "Yes, yes I have a cow, but in the house?"  He thought the wise man was crazy!

But he remembered his promise as he climbed down the hill and brought the cow into the house.   If Mr. Man thought he had noise before, he was mistaken.  Now the din was much worse and he rued the day he went to the Swami.  If he had trouble sleeping before, it was now impossible.

In the morning he returned to the hill and began the long climb, a little less eager than before.  He had difficulty reaching the cave because he was tired, but he still had hope for a solution to his problem. Mr. Man approached the wise man with a bit of apprehension.  The Swami greeted him with a warm smile.  Mr. Man got right to the point.  "It was awful last night:  the cow mooed, the smells were bad, and my wife thinks I'm crazy."

"Oh, too bad, my son.  Tonight perhaps it will be different.  I want you to bring in your hens and rooster."

Mr. Man was dumbstruck.  He could not speak but he did think, "I must be nuts to chose such a master."

Without a word, he returned to his home and brought in the hens and the rooster.  With a cluck-cluck here, cluck-cluck there, here a cluck, there a cluck, everywhere a cluck-cluck (and that was only the noise from his wife, daughters, and mother-in-law).

He did not sleep a wink.  He could barely make it up the mountain the next day.  His voice was a monotone.  "Swamiji, I did what you asked and it made things worse."

The Swami said, "Terribly sorry."  His face beamed with a beatific smile as he asked, "Dogs -- you have dogs, don't you?"

Well, you can imagine.  Pandemonium:  Woof-woof, moo-moo, cluck-cluck, and a cock-a-doodle-do!   Needless to say he did not rest that night.

He returned to the hill and me an attempt to climb, but weakened by lack of sleep he took only a few steps and fell.  He heard distant whistling and dully looked up to the sage coming to meet him on the path.  The wise man was beaming now, with a radiant smile and laughing to himself.  Mr. Man summoned all his strength to arise.  He said, "I have done all you have asked of me, but I still have no peace.  There is so much noise inside, I cannot bear it!"

The Swami said, "I have a solution to your problem my child.  Tonight I want you to remove the cow, the dogs, the hens and the rooster."

Mr. Man was overjoyed.  He ran home to do what the wise sage said.  And lo and behold -- silence reigned.  He quickly went to his bed, and his last thought as he drifted off to the land of nod was, "What a wise man he is!"