There was a king who had a great fascination and love for paintings.

one time he decided to offer a very valuable price to the artist who would
paint a beautiful picture depicting peace.

On the final day of the judgement, many artists brought their paintings
with the hope of winning that valuable price.

The king looked at all the paintings and selected two in particular.

And now, he had to choose one of the two paintings for the valuable price.

The first painting, a beautiful calm lake with clear transparent waters.

The lake was a perfect mirror to the towering mountains surrounding it.

Above it, the blue sky, with white fluffy clouds like cotton balls floating in
space any body who saw this painting thought it was the perfect masterpiece representing peace.

The second painting, have mountains too, rugged, dry & bare. Above these mountains, an angry sky overcast with dark clouds,lightening streaks here and there, a massive downpour of rains, a rumbling ferocious waterfall cascading down on one side of this bare mountain.

Peace?, thought the people who saw this painting.

As the King looked closer, he saw behind this rumbling waterfall a branch
of a bush growing out of a crack in a rock.

On the branch was a mother bird who made a nest and within the nest was
very peacefully with great affection feeding its little ones.

Which one do you think did the king choose for his valuable price?

The Second one.

The king explained peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, where there is no trouble, where there is no hard work, where there is no trails, where there is no tribulations, where there is no difficulties.

Peace means to be in the middle of all mayhem and chaos and yet to stay calm, yet to stay focused, yet to make that inward journey and isn't that the story of real life as well?

Spirituality is the art of bringing us to that inner calm, to that inner peace in our real life with all kinds of difficulties, troubles and problems surrounding us.

That is the meaning and definition of REAL PEACE.