The Fruits of Labour

  There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy and fun loving son. The businessman wanted his son to be hard-working and responsible. He wanted him to realize the value of labour. One day he summoned his son and said: "Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won't have your meals tonight."

The boy was callous and not used to any kind of work. This demand by his father scared him and he went crying straight to his mother. Her heart melted at the sight of tears in her son's eyes. She grew restless. In a bid to help him she gave him a gold coin. In the evening when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son promptly presented him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into a well. The son did as he was told.

The father was a man of wisdom and experience and guessed that the source of the gold coin was the boy's mother. The next day he sent his wife to her parent's town and asked his son to go and earn something with the threat of being denied the night meals if he failed.

This time he went crying to his sister who sympathized with him and gave him a rupee coin out of her own savings. When his father asked him what he had earned the boy tossed the rupee coin at him. The father again asked him to throw it in a well. The son did it quite readily. Again the father's wisdom told him that the rupee coin was not earned by his son. He then sent his daughter to her in-laws' house. He again asked his son to go out and earn with the threat that he shall not have anything for dinner that night.

This time since there was no one to help him out; the son was forced to go to the market in search of work. One of the shopkeepers there told him that he would pay him two rupees if he carried his trunk to his house. The rich man's son could not refuse and was drenched in sweat by the time he finished the job. His feet were trembling and his neck and back were aching. There were rashes on his back. As he returned home and produced the two rupee note before his father and was asked to throw it into the well, the horrified son almost cried out. He could not imagine throwing his hard-earned money like this. He said amid sobbing: "Father! My entire body is aching. My back has rashes and you are asking me to throw the money into the well."

At this the businessman smiled. He told him that one feels the pain only when the fruits of hard labour are wasted. On earlier two occasions he was helped by his mother and sister and therefore had no pain in throwing the coins into the well. The son had now realized the value of hard work. He vowed never to be lazy and safe keep the father's wealth. The father handed over the keys of his shop to the son and promised to guide him through the rest of the life.

Death - A Nice Explanation

A sick man turned to his doctor,as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."

Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."

"You don't know? You, a Christian, do not know what is on the other side?"

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is enough."

Wealthy as we grow Old

Silver on the Hair 

Gold on the Teeth.

Stones in the Kidneys 

Sugar in the Blood.

Lead on the Feet.

Iron in the Arteries.

And an inexhaustible supply of Natural Gas..

We never thought we'd accumulated such wealth!

How a University was Born

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.

She frowned. "We want to see the president," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't.

And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president was not touched; he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery".

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now.

And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them."

Prayer is not a spare wheel

Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.

Do you know why a Car's WINDSHIELD is so large & the Rearview Mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. Look Ahead and Move on.

Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.

Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!

Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, "Relax, sweetheart, it's just a bend, not the end!

When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.

A blind person asked Swami Vivekanand: "Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?" He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"

When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them, and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you. WORRYING does not take away tomorrows' TROUBLES, it takes away todays' PEACE.

His work must be done, His way

Three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meagre harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones."

Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!" And off she ran, returning with an apron full of parsley and a turnip. As the kettle boiled on, the memory of the village improved: soon barley, carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot, and a cask of wine was rolled into the square as all sat down to feast.

They ate and danced and sang well into the night, refreshed by the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke to find the entire village standing before them. At their feet lay a satchel of the village's best breads and cheese. "You have given us the greatest of gifts: the secret of how to make soup from stones", said an elder, "and we shall never forget." The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said:

"There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by sharing that we may make a feast".

And off the soldiers wandered, down the road.

When You Walk Alone, You Walk Fast

When large-scale copying of ideas and lifestyles is the norm, it is unusual for one to embark on an unexplored path out of conviction.

On uncharted territory every decision taken is a unique one as it has no precedence; so it's a challenge. To do so requires tremendous courage, conviction and faith in one's own capability.

Taking a known path is safer, as one would know what to expect or what turn events might take.

When you walk alone, there is the danger of giving in to self-doubt or feeling vulnerable at being ridiculed for having taken a "brave decision". Some might call it arrogance.

When frustration sets in it is important to replay situations that propelled us to take the unbeaten path. When in conflict, go and relive the decision. That would help clarify your purpose and motivation. When that is sorted out, the next step is to analyse the present situation.

You would perhaps conclude that conflicts in the mind arise when there is a gap between what was expected and what is currently occurring. It is when these conflicts occur that depressing doubts begin. Stress, anxiety and other psychosomatic problems begin to emerge causing health problems.

What is the way out? Gautama Buddha's Second Noble Truth – Patticasamuppada or Dukkha samuddaya – focuses on 12 parameters. Buddha's process of deduction provides a logical perspective.

We doubt because the sense object contact inevitably brings forth various emotions, according to Buddha. But the turmoil that occurs inevitably is because we identify our emotions with what is occurring around so completely that all rational thinking is lost. Because of its innate simplicity Buddha's teachings attract the common man and help him to overcome self-doubt and dissatisfaction.

In order to apply his practical notion to our day-to-day life we would have to comprehend the following:

Firstly, nothing is permanent, so accept where we are now and not cling to the effects that are thrown our way. We should be pragmatic and clinically study why we are in a state of turmoil or take it one notch higher and introspect to see if we are really in a state of dissatisfaction. On dispassionate analysis we will see that every situation that we are in is because of the way or the manner in which we have handled or perceived the occurrences around us.

Walking alone is not a problem but to stay on course, understand and face challenges therein is the true test. It would help then to look at achievers who have reached the pinnacle of excellence in their respective fields.

Are they not people like you and me who have broken the set stereotype and gone beyond the paradigm? Have they not set an example that is beyond the ordinary?

The difference is that, though they walked alone, they did so with conviction, confidence and commitment like the Paccheka Buddha of early Buddhist philosophy who was an individual in pursuit of a way out of the daily trammels of living, but charting his own course.

(Written by: Radha Kumar)