Mikhail started talking.

“After achieving enlightenment, Gautam Buddha went to the city of his birth. After his few days of arrival, a royal prince approached him and asked to be initiated into a sannyasin, to be his disciple.  His name was Prince Shrown. It was a very surprising phenomenon for the men of his kingdom. Nobody expected him to just go there and ask to be initiated for the reason that Shrown had indulged in women, wine, dances and parties more than anyone else. He was a man of indulgence. 

The prince's subordinates and servants came to Buddha and asked:

'This is a miracle. What did you do?'  

But for Gautam Buddha, it was to be expected. He knew the law of how the mind moves from one extreme to another. So Buddha said:

'I did not do anything. This is just how the mind works'   

So, the prince became a beggar and along with Buddha’s sannyasin, he started the journey for the truth. But he moved further to the other extreme, to extreme effort. Buddha never asked anyone to be naked, but Shrown became naked. Buddha did not teach anyone nakedness but the prince had thrown all his clothes away. And he became quite self-torturing. Buddha allowed one meal every day for the sannyasins, but Shrown would take only one meal on alternate days. 

He lost a lot of weight, became slick and thin. While all the other disciples would sit for meditation under trees, in the shade, Shrown would never sit under any tree. He would always remain in the hot sun. He was a man with a healthy and lovely body, but within six months he became nothing but skin and bones with burn marks all around his body. 

Buddha went to Shrown one night and asked him,

‘Shrown, I have heard that when you were a prince, before initiation, you used to play on a VEENA, a sitar, and you were a great musician. So, I have come to ask you one question. If the strings of the veena are very loose, what happens?’

Shrown said, ‘If the strings are very loose, then no music is possible.’

And then Buddha asked, ‘And if the strings are very tight, too tight, then what happens?’

Shrown said, ‘Then too music cannot be produced. The strings must be in the middle -- neither loose nor tight, but just exactly in the middle.’

Shrown said, ‘It is easy to play the veena, but only a master can set these strings right, in the middle.’

So Buddha said, ‘This much I have to say to you, after observing you for the last six months -- that in life also the music comes only when the strings are neither loose nor tight, but just in the middle. So, to renounce is easy, but only a master knows how to be in the middle. So Shrown, be a master, and let these strings of life be just in the middle -- in everything’”. 

Mikhail closed his eyes and silence took over them. The birds chirped and the tree branches danced in the blowing wind. The two observed Mikhail’s silence and sat there for minutes straight contemplating on the story that had been told.

“Umm, Mikhail?”

“Yes, Bold. What is it?”

“The middle path. What happens when the mind is in the middle?”.

“It dies” said Mikhail with a satisfied smile. 

“Dies?” repeated Bold in horror.  

“Yes. Only when the mind, the disease dies can one experience the ultimate, the reality”

“Uhh…”

Bold looked at Emma who seemed equally confused. Emma gulped her saliva and spoke:

“Wouldn’t it be bad if the mind dies? We would become just stupid people, no?”

Miheal laughed.

“I never said that the brain will die. There is nothing wrong with the head. But the thoughts that are loud. This inner chattering in the mind. It is the lair of the ego. The mind that hankers for the past and the future. It is a disease. The disease that stops one from reaching the ultimate truth and mastering a spell in this virtual video game simulator”

“Really?” said Emma doubtingly.

“I seriously don’t believe you. How are thoughts bad? It’s just a creation of my head, that which guides me, right?” asked Bold. 

“Only a drowsy person is driven by thoughts. A man with awareness needs no thought. Or rather the thoughts that were so loud and vibrant is transformed and becomes so subtle that the person even stops noticing any voices in his head.” declared Mikhail.

What kind of bullshit is he talking about? occurred a thought to Bold.

“I dunno about that. Thoughts are quite useful. Don’t even know how one can operate without thoughts” argued Bold persistently.

Let’s see how he’s gonna get out of that one. thought Bold. 

“Alright. Then I’ll show you” said Mikhail.