Moral Stories - TOMATOES! Get Better, Not Bitter

Moral Stories - TOMATOES! Get Better, Not Bitter

🍅A teacher asked her students to bring some tomatoes in a bag to school.
🍅Each tomato was to be given the name of a person whom that child hates.
🍅So, the number of tomatoes would be equal to the number of persons they hate.
🍅On a pre-determined day, All the children brought their tomatoes well addressed.
🍅Some had two, some had three and some had five, some even had 20 tomatoes in accordance with the number of people they hated.
🍅The teacher then told them they had to carry the tomatoes with them everywhere they go for two weeks.
🍅As the days passed the children started to complain about the decay and smell of the tomatoes.
🍅The students who had many tomatoes complained it was very heavy to carry and the smell was too much.
🍅After a week, the teacher asked the students “How did you feel this week?”
🍅The children complained of the awful smell and heavy weight of the tomatoes, especially those who carried several tomatoes.
🍅The teacher said, “This is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don’t like some people.
🍅Hatred makes the heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred everywhere.
🍅If you can’t bear the smell of spoilt tomatoes for a week, imagine the impact of bitterness on your heart as you carry it daily.”
🍅The heart is a beautiful garden that needs regular cleaning of unwanted weeds.
🍅 Forgive those who have angered you.
🍅This makes room for storing good things.
🍅Get Better, Not Bitter!!!

Moral Stories - Old man and Cat

Moral Stories - Old man and Cat

An old man was sitting at the river bank when he saw a cat that had fallen into the water, flailing around, trying to save itself from drowning.

The man decided to save the cat. He stretched his hand out but was scratched by the cat. He pulled his hand back in pain.

However, a minute later he stretched his hand out again to save the cat, but it scratched him again, and again he pulled his hand back in pain.

Another minute later he was yet again trying for the third time!!

A man, who was nearby watching what was happening, yelled out: "O wise man, you have not learned your lesson the first time, nor the second time, and now you are trying to save the cat a third time?"

The wise man paid no heed to that man's scolding, and kept on trying until he managed to save the cat.

He then walked over to the man, and patted his shoulder saying: "My son.. it is in the cat's nature to scratch, and it is in my nature to love and have sympathy. Why do you want me to let the cat's nature overcome mine !?!!

Treat people according to your nature, not according to theirs, no matter what they are like and no matter how numerous are their actions that harm you and cause you hurt sometimes.

And do not pay heed to all the voices that loudly call out to you to leave behind your good qualities merely because the other party is not deserving of your noble actions.

The Boiling Frog Syndrome

Put a frog in a vessel of water and start heating the water… As the temperature of the water rises, the frog is able to adjust its body temperature accordingly… The frog keeps on adjusting with increase in temperature…

Just when the water is about to reach boiling point, the frog is not able to adjust anymore…
At that point the frog decides to jump out…
The frog tries to jump but is unable to do so, because it lost all its strength in adjusting with the water temperature…

Very soon the frog dies. What killed the frog?

Many of you would say the boiling water…
But the truth is what killed the frog was its own inability to decide when it had to jump out…

We all need to adjust with people and situations, but we need to be sure when we need to adjust and when we need to confront / face..

There are times when we need to face the situation and take the appropriate action…
If you allow people to exploit you physically, mentally, emotionally or financially, they will continue to do so…

You have to decide when to jump…And jump while you still have the strength.

Too much Truth - Blunt Truth

Schoolchildren sometimes play a game called “Honesty.” The rules are simple: For a designated period of time, the participants must tell the truth regardless of the subject. They then ask each other leading questions such as, “Do you like my hair?” “Do you think Lindsay is cute?” Inevitably someone gets angry when he or she discovers that these friends had been shading the truth, telling “little white lies,” to spare the person’s feelings. Even when the game is over, its lessons are not soon forgotten. Being honest with others doesn’t mean being brutal. It isn’t necessary to tell people everything you don’t like about them under the guise of being frank with them “for their own good.” Sometimes it’s better if we don’t know every person’s innermost feelings about us. Respect for another’s self-esteem often means telling them too little truth instead of too much.
Let's not forget verse from manusmruti.

सत्यं ब्रूयात् प्रियं ब्रूयान्न ब्रूयात् सत्यमप्रियम् ।
प्रियं च नानृतं ब्रूयादेष धर्मः सनातनः ॥

satyaṃ brūyāt priyaṃ brūyānna brūyāt satyamapriyam |
priyaṃ ca nānṛtaṃ brūyādeṣa dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ ||

He shall say what is true; and he shall say what is agreeable; he shall not say what is true, but disagreeale; nor shall he say what is agreeable, but untrue; this is the eternal law.

 

Moral Stories - OLD CHINESE Wisdom

Moral Stories - OLD CHINESE Wisdom

A farmer in ancient China had a neighbour who was a hunter, and who owned ferocious and poorly trained hunting dogs.

They jumped over the fence frequently and chased the farmer's lambs.

The farmer asked his neighbour to keep his dogs in check, but this fell on deaf ears.

One day the dogs again jumped the fence, attacked and severely injured several of the lambs.

The farmer had had enough, and went to town to consult a judge who listened carefully to the story and said: "I could punish the hunter and instruct him to keep his dogs chained or lock them up. But you would lose a friend and gain an enemy. Which would you rather have, friend or foe for a neighbour?"

The farmer replied that he preferred a friend.

“Alright, I will offer you a solution that keeps your lambs safe, and which will keep your a neighbour a friend."

Having heard the judge's solution, the farmer agreed.

Once at home, the farmer immediately put the judge's suggestions to the test.

He took three of his best lambs and presented them to his neighbour's three small sons, who were beside themselves with joy and began to play with them.

To protect his son's newly acquired playthings, the hunter built a strong kennel for his dogs.

Since then, the dogs never again bothered the farmer's lambs.

Out of gratitude for the farmer's generosity toward his sons, the hunter often shared the game he had hunted with the farmer.

The farmer reciprocated by sending the hunter the cheese he had made.

Within a short time the neighbours became good friends.

A Saying in Old China went something like this,

“One can win over and influence people the best with gestures of kindness and compassion.”

A similar Western Saying:

“One catches more flies with honey than with vinegar."

Let us make an effort  to make a pact that we will be polite when we speak and not make rude and sarcastic remarks at every opportunity we get, especially with our families, friends and colleagues.

Die empty - Start The Race

One of the most beautiful  book to read is "Die Empty" by Todd Henry.
The author was inspired and got this idea of writing ​​this book while attending a business meeting.
When the director asked the audience: "Where is the richest land in the world?"

One of the audience answered: "Oil-rich Gulf states."
Another added: "Diamond mines in Africa."
Then the director said: "No it is the cemetery. Yes, it is the richest land in the world, because millions of people have departed, "they have died" and they carried many valuable ideas that did not come to light and benefited others. It is all in the cemetery where they are buried."

Inspired by this answer, Todd Henry wrote his book "Die empty." Where he did his best to motivate people to pour out their ideas and potential energies in their communities and turn them into something useful before it is too late.

The most beautiful of what he said in his book is: "Do not go to your grave and carry inside you the best that you have.
 always choose to die empty

The TRUE meaning of this  expression, is to die empty of all the goodness that is within you. Deliver it to the world, before you leave

If you have an idea perform it.
If you have a knowledge give it out.
If you have a goal achieve it.
Love, share and distribute, do not keep it inside.

Shall we begin to give and remove and spread every atom of goodness inside us.

 Start the race....
Die Empty

Moral Stories - An Empty Boat

 

Moral Stories - An Empty Boat

A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery.

He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation.

After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own.
With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation.
But when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake.

At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.

From then on, whenever he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to anger, anxiety.

 he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me.”

Take time for introspection & search for answer:

"Empty boat" is a famous & fabulous metaphor. Its value lies in its implementation.


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