Trust is God

  Once there a lived a little boy who lived in a village called Gopalpur. Kittu was the only child to his parents and therefore they decided to educate him with all their might. Though his parents were poor farmers they believed that God will give them enough to educate their son. Kittu went to a nearby school.

The nearest school itself was about seven kilometres from their house. Kittu had to partly cover the distance through a forest. Many days his father used to press his legs in the night as he went to sleep. One day as his father was pressing his legs, Kittu told his father that he did not want to go to school as he was afraid was crossing the forest path alone.

His father thought for some time and then told Kittu that he was not alone and his elder brother Gopala is watching over him. All Kittu had to do, was keep chanting the name of Gopala and cross the forest path.

From the next day Kittu did exactly as his father had told him. After a few days Kittu began to wonder if there was an elder brother and if there was one he wished to see him in person. So the next day as he was chanting he started talking to Gopala and asked him a lot of questions. If Gopala did accompany him to school as his father had promised he would answer the questions that Kittu asked. Kittu began by asking Gopala where he lived. Instantly he heard a reply, “In the forest, of course!”

On hearing these words Kittu’s happiness knew no bounds. He would ask a lot of questions and Gopala would keep answering them. One day Kittu wanted to see Gopala in person and Gopala readily obliged. From that day onwards Kittu and Gopala would cross the forest asking questions and answering them. Once the forest ended Gopala would go back to his house and Kittu would go to school.

After a few months Kittu’s father asked him if he was scared of the forest any longer and Kittu told him that as long as Gopala was there he was not scared. Kittu’s father then gently told him that now that he was out of his fears he need not keep chanting Gopala’s name. His father explained to him that it was to expel his fears that he had told him about Gopala. 

Kittu laughed at his father and told him that Gopala was a real person who walks him till the edge of the forest every day. Kittu’s father was worried.

He wished to see Gopala in person if he did exist. So the next day Kittu promised to bring Gopala home and introduce him to his father. The next day Kittu explained his position to Gopala who initially refused to go. But Kittu began to cry. Gopala explained to Kittu that he was only visible to people who had absolute trust in him. But Kittu was insistent.

Finally Gopala agreed to go but on one condition. Kittu was not to look back and had to keep going ahead and Gopala would follow him. Kittu agreed and the two began to walk. As they reached the village Kittu saw a few curious villagers who were standing along with his father. On seeing them Kittu became very nervous. He turned his head slightly to look if Gopala was following him. He did not want to make a fool of himself in front of the crowd.

At the same time the villagers reached the spot. But alas, Kittu had broken the promise he had made. All that he and the villagers saw was the statue of Gopala.

Kittu realised that God was with him all these days and his faith made him see God. One moment’s mistrust had turned him into a statue.

From that day on wards Kittu worshiped the statue of Gopala with utmost devotion and trust.

Old habits die hard!

In the village of Ramnagara, there lived two women who used to travel together to the market at the same time every day.Tara was the woman who sold flowers and Maya sold fish in the market. After they finished selling their goods the two women walked back home discussing the day’s happenings with each other. They would then take a nap under the tree and then walk back home.

Tara often took pity on Maya because even the 15 minute nap everyday would be a trouble for her with the stink of the fish lingering from the fish basket. She would ask Maya to replace the basket while she slept but Maya would dismiss it with a smile.

But this thought made Tara uncomfortable and she decided that she had to help her friend. She knew her friend would not listen to her and therefore decided to help her without her knowledge.

Every night she started exchanging her fish basket with a new basket. Before dawn she would replace the fish basket again. This went on for some time and Tara was very happy with herself. But ironically Maya’s condition did not become better. She started looking very tired and pale. Dark circles became apparent under her eyes and often her eyes were swollen.

Tara wondered what was wrong with Maya and one day asked what the matter was. Tara did not know what to say. She just told her friend that she could not sleep well and that was affecting her. Tara was curious to know more. She asked her if there was any problem. Maya told her that she felt a bit strange and her sleep was getting disturbed too often and that she herself did not know what the problem was.

As fresh thoughts about her friend’s condition started plaguing her mind, Tara forgot to replace the baskets for a few a days. In the meantime Maya started sleeping well and the few days that the baskets were not exchanged, Maya was herself once again and she thanked Tara for patiently listening to her. Tara now understood the reason for Maya’s sleeplessness and felt very guilty. She instantly understood that people grow used to their situations and derive a sense of security when they are in their comfort zone.

She felt stupid because though she had thought of helping her friend, she had actually caused her trouble. Tara learnt two important lessons that day. Accepting people as they are without trying to change them is the essence of friendship! Trying to help people based on your judgement of their situation can be counterproductive!

Winning arguments is not real victory

This story happens to be the best that I have heard so far. I have heard my father narrate this story when I was a kid, and then when my children were kids!

Once upon a time there was a sparrow. The sparrow was pecking through dirt when he suddenly hit upon a gold coin. He was very thrilled and went straight to the king with the coin. For the little sparrow the gold coin was a huge wealth and he thought he had become richer than the king!

"I have a gold coin, do you have one?"

He went to the court room where the king was seated on his throne. He called out to the king and when the king looked at him, he went on chanting with a dance, “I have a gold coin, do you have one?” The King was silent for a few minutes, but soon he got angered and ordered the guards to snatch the gold coin from the sparrow.

Instantly the guards caught hold of the bird and took the gold coin from the beak of the dancing bird. The bird was silent for some time and then again started dancing, this time chanting, “The King does not have a gold coin so he snatched the one from my beak!” Now the king was really angry and screamed at the guards to throw the coin back at the bird. Obeying the kings’ orders, the guards threw the gold coin back at the bird.

The King almost heaved a sigh of relief, when the bird started dancing again. This time he paused and ensured that all eyes in the king’s court were on him. Once he had the court’s attention on him, he started mocking the king saying, “The king is so scared of me that he gave the coin back to me.”

The bird was so elated with his own wit and went on dancing and making fun of the king. The king could contain himself no longer. As he rose from his throne in rage, one of his ministers, who had beaten the odds of life through his wisdom, walked up to the king.He whispered something gently into the king’s ears. After the minister took his seat, the king clapped and told all his men to clap for the lovely bird for entertaining the court. The King then aptly rewarded the bird with another gold coin. His ego badly bruised, the bird left the court without another word. 

When the court met all of them were curious to know what the minister had told the king. Soon, the King addressed the court. He thanked the old minister for his timely advice. The minister had told the King that winning arguments was not real victory!

Winning arguments is not real victory!

Why Frogs croak?

Once upon a time there lived a frog named Leapy in a forest. During a particularly harsh summer, the forest reeled under a drought unseen. The animals did not have enough water to drink and were struggling to stay alive.  Under the leadership of the elephant the animals gathered under a huge tree and debated on the many ways of averting disaster.

They tried out the many ways they had discussed. As every single idea went in vain they finally decided that it was time to leave the forest and move elsewhere in search of water. But just as one last attempt the elephant said that they should all join together and pray to Varuna, the water God, to show some mercy on them. It was decided after a lot of debate that all the animals will meet on the appointed day, near the big banyan tree and pray to Lord Varuna. Just then old Mr.Owl opined that someone should inform Mr Leapy about the prayer meeting. Mr Owl said that he had not been attending any of the meetings and someone should find out what had happened to him.

At once Flappy, the butterfly offered to have a word with Mr Leapy. She reached the dried up pond where Leapy was asleep on a rock. She whistled softly in Leapy’s ears and he woke up rather puzzled. Flappy told him about the meeting. But Leapy was not willing to listen to Flappy. Leapy was scared that Mr Hissy, the snake would gobble him up the minute he set his eyes upon him.

Flappy went back to the animals that were still huddled up under the banyan tree. Flappy conveyed Leapy’s fears to them. Hissy thought for a while and then told Flappy to let Leapy know that unless he croaked, he would not gobble him up. Hissy further told Flappy that when he croaked it felt like an insult to the snake. The message was then conveyed to Leapy who finally agreed to attend the meeting.

The ‘prayer for rain’ meeting was successfully held as planned. And lo and behold it rained the very next day! The fiery firmament had finally relented. Drops of water bore holes through the hitherto leathery skies and like a lost child would run upon finding his mother, ran wildly towards mother earth!

The animals, in unison looked heavenwards and uttered words of thanks, looking visibly relieved. Hissy waded through the water in happiness. He slithered on top of the rock where Leapy was sitting peacefully. For some time nothing happened, except the rains. As the rain intensified Leapy began to croak gently to see if the snake would stick to his words. But fortunately Leapy’s croaks were drowned in the noise of the rain lashing fiercely on the barren land. Slowly Leapy wanted to tease Hissy more and more and started croaking loudly. Hissy leapt forward in one move and gobbled Leapy up! He also cursed all frogs to croak loudly during the rainy season, so that it is easy for all his snake brothers to eat up the stupid frogs.

Though the other animals felt bad for Leapy they were helpless. Old Mr Owl shook droplets of water off from his feathers and cleared his throat before speaking. He said that our tongue can be both our best friend and worst enemy. When Leapy had appealed to Hissy, his tongue had helped him articulate his fears and had saved him from danger. But the same tongue had done him the greatest damage too!

Let me recall sage Thiruvalluvar’s words “Yagavarayinum Nakakka”.It is important to hold your or it can cause you doom.

The hidden truth

 

There was a huge forest with lots of trees and various types of plants. It was the time of the year when flora and fauna flourished in the vast expanse of the forest giving the satiated feeling of plenitude.

Travellers and passers-by frequented the forest as they had plenty to eat from and a river nearby to quench their thirst. One such morning, a sculptor was passing by the forest. He was too tired as he had spent days on foot, travelling from one kingdom to another in search of work. He sat under a tree and soon sleep took over his thoughts and the sculptor was blissfully snoring. After a while he woke up and saw the tree that he was hitherto sleeping under. Soon he started working and chipping away parts of its bark. After a day’s hard work the tree vanished and in its place stood a wise elephant.

Each of see a different truth in things around us. To me the rock looks like a tiny turtle...

The sculptor had so skilfully chiselled away the bark of the tree that it now resembled a majestic elephant. The sculptor wrote his name in the fond hope that any king who came hunting could see his talent and give him a job. Satisfied with his efforts at marketing himself, the sculptor thanked the god of the forests for giving an opportunity to exhibit his skills and went his way.

True to the sculptor’s beliefs the King from a neighbouring kingdom came to the forest the following day and chanced upon the sculptor’s work. The elephant stood out amongst the rest of the trees. He was both amazed and saddened as it was just a couple of days ago that the king had refused work for the sculptor. Soon he sent word through his guards to find the sculptor.

Upon finding the sculptor the king praised his work profusely and also apologised for his ignorance at identifying true talent. The sculptor was pleased and the elephant that he had made had hidden the tree. The whole kingdom spoke of the elephant and how beautiful it was.

A few days later the sculptor went to the forest to have a look at the elephant and see if he could improve it in any manner. As he reached the spot, he saw a wood cutter arranging the barks of a tree that he had cut and tugging at the bundle with all his might. The sculptor could not see his elephant and asked the wood cutter if he had seen the elephant that stood in that spot. The wood cutter replied in the negative. He said he had only seen a very huge tree which had high quality wood for burning and if he sold it in the market it would fetch him a good price. The wood cutter went on describing the quality of the wood and the size of the barks and the price that his loot would fetch him. The sculptor tried explaining that he had sculpted an elephant in the bark of the tree and spread out pieces of the log to find the trunk and tusks of the elephant he had painstakingly sculpted only a few days ago.

He tried telling the wood cutter what he had done. But the wood cutter only saw a tree there and in his opinion there was no elephant. While the king saw the quality of the sculpture, the wood cutter saw the quality of the wood. The elephant hid the tree when the king looked at it and the tree hid the elephant when the wood cutter looked at it.

This is how life hides the truth from us many times. The quality of the person that we are decides what we choose to see in people around us. The truth is always hidden and as we pass life through the various stages, we realise the truth through our own experiences!

The stupid donkey

Once there lived a donkey which was very stupid. But he thought of himself to be very intelligent. One day as he was lying down idle , under a tree he wanted to pick up a fight with someone for fun. 

 

He looked all around to see if he could find someone to pick a fight with. Just then a cow walked past the tree in search of grass. The donkey tried drawing him into a conversation. 

The donkey asked he cow if he knew who the most intelligent animal on earth was. The cow thought for a while and said that the elephant living near the river was the most intelligent animal. The donkey was thoroughly offended. 

He challenged the cow to prove whatever he said just then. So the twosome went to the river and decided to wait there till the elephant came along for her daily fill of water. A little while later the elephant arrived. The donkey and the cow waited for the elephant to drink the water. Then they approached her and explained the situation.

The donkey now challenged the elephant to prove her intelligence. The elephant thought for a while.

She was sure that the donkey was trying to while away his time and the poor cow has been trapped. Now the donkey was trying to draw the elephant into and all of this seemed irrelevant to the elephant.

Soon the elephant hit upon a good idea. He called the cow and the donkey and asked them a question. “Who, between the two of you is more powerful?” asked the elephant. The donkey immediately told that he was the most powerful and that his hind legs were the strongest in the whole world. The cow did not say anything, but silently observed the donkey. He suddenly looked haughty and vain. The cow began to understand that the donkey was simply trying to boast and had drawn them into a useless discussion. The elephant then asked the cow how he would fight his enemy. Taking the cue from the elephant the cow charged at the donkey and hit him hard with his horns. The donkey fell to the ground and as he was struggling to get to his feet, the elephant told the donkey that the cow indeed was more powerful as he did not have to turn and show his back to his enemy. The cow’s power is there for all of us to see.