Appraised!

A very senior employee of an organisation visited a Guru. The Guru was a wise man and was known for his counselling capabilities. The accomplished executive approached the Guru and told him that his wife was no longer happy with him and he thought that it was high time that they lived separately.

The Guru listened to the man before telling him a story:

Once there lived two leopards in a forest. They were the best of friends and were almost inseparable. One day, as fate would have it, they were caught and put behind bars. No crime had they committed, no charges were filed against them and there was not even an FIR!

They were caught and put behind bars!

They were whisked away to a zoo and were given a place from where they could continue living their lives. They still were together, so what if their surroundings had changed? The two of them decided to adjust to their new environs and continue their life in happiness.

The poor creatures did not know that they were now public exhibits and human beings would stream in to watch them. The innocence that the forest life allowed them was no longer available to them. But the leopards were happy as they were together. To them, nothing had changed. What really had changed, was outside of their frame of relevance.

One day, a group of people happened to visit the zoo. From the attention that these people received, it appeared that they were important. The crowd swarmed around one person who gave commands that were instantly obeyed.

“Must be a very learned man. He seems to know everything about everything” said one leopard to the other.

While the crowd was leaving, the crowd-puller, stopped for a while in front of the cage where the leopards lived. He took a closer look and told one of the persons around that the leopard to his side was more beautiful than the other.

The person nodded his head, as he got the message. In an instant the crowd vanished.

After the crowd left, the leopard that won the appreciation of the important man felt elated.

“I am not sure why he felt I was more beautiful than you. He is a learned man and he cannot be wrong, though I may not completely agree with him” he said, pride and ego overflowing in his voice.

The other leopard was hurt. Very soon the happiness that had prevailed thus far between them vanished. They started moving away from each other. Very frequently they fought with each other and the pride filled-leopard kept taunting his partner, by recalling the words of the callous human being.

The zoo keepers observed that one of the leopards was growing more and more lonely and sad. The other leopard seemed unaffected. A couple of days later, there was an order from higher authorities to move the unaffected leopard outside the cage. The leopard that was losing health could affect the healthy one, they felt. The leopards were moved to different cages.

The leopards were moved to different cages...

After a week or so, the healthy leopard was taken in a van to some unknown part of the earth. When he was lowered, he saw the man who had called him beautiful. He inspected the cage closely.

“Yes, he is the one that I wanted. Now you can shift him to my private park and ensure he is taken care well” he said before leaving the place. The four helpers who were lowering the cage, wanted a break. They left the cage on the ground and after the van left, sat around the cage with a cup of tea in their hands.

“This great man has a dirty side to him” said one of them.

“What does he do with these animals?” asked another.

“He uses a code word which his assistants understand. When he says something is beautiful, it means that he needs it for his private use.”

“What” exclaimed the fourth man!

“He is not alone in the race. There are many outwardly holy people who are dirty inside. Let us focus on our job, lest we may lose our bread and butter” said the first man.

The four of them carefully shifted the cage to its designated spot.

The cage suddenly felt empty as the leopard realized his folly. Without his partner around to console him, the leopard started feeling lonely. His loneliness made him sick and soon he was shifted back to the zoo.

His absence had affected his partner. The zoo authorities decided to keep the two leopards together as both were now sick. In a while they realized the importance of each other and grew stronger and happier!