The Elephant and the Fly

The Elephant and the Fly


A disciple and his teacher were walking through the forest. The disciple was disturbed by the fact that his mind was in constant unrest.

He asked his teacher: "Why most people's minds are restless, and only a few possess a calm mind? What can one do to still the mind?"

The teacher looked at the disciple, smiled and said: "I will tell you a story. An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly came again, and the elephant waved it away once more".

This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly: "Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can't you stay for a while in one place?"

The fly answered: "I am attracted to whatever I see, hear or smell. My five senses pull me constantly in all directions and I cannot resist them. What is your secret? How can you stay so calm and still?"

The elephant stopped eating and said: "My five senses do not rule my attention. Whatever I do, I get immersed in it. Now that I am eating, I am completely immersed in eating. In this way I can enjoy my food and chew it better. I rule and control my attention, and not the other way around."

Upon hearing these words, the disciple's eyes opened wide and a smile appeared on his face. He looked at his teacher and said: "I understand! If my five senses are in control of my mind and attention, then my mind is in constant unrest. If I am in charge of my five senses and attention, then my mind becomes calm".

"Yes, that's right", answered the teacher, "The mind is restless and goes wherever the attention is. Control your attention, and you control your mind".


Remez Sasson


AtmAnam rathinam viddhi, sariram ratham eva ca; buddhim tu sArathim viddhi, manah pragraham eva ca. indriyAni hayan Ahur, visayAms tesu gocarAn; atmendriya-mano-yuktam, bhoktety Ahur manisinah - Katha Upanisad 1.3.3-4

An Old Story with New Learning

Do you recognize a DIAMOND when you see one?

An Old Story with New Learning


There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy.

One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away.

That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow.

He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room.

That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?"

The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?"

The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one."

The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you.

There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.

Learnings

When our attitude is right, we realize that we are a walking on acres and acres of diamonds. Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need to do is recognize it. Attitude determines the altitude.

The grass always appears greener on the other side (ikkarai ke akkarai pachai)। While we are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the grass on our side.

When people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks. The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it is never the same one.

Contributed by Sharad Singh

Good News or Bad News

Good News or Bad News

Riches, mediocrity and poverty begin in the mind.

Good news or bad news? It depends on how you see things. You can be bitter after being cheated. Or you can choose to move on with your life…

Robert De Vincenzo, the great Argentine golfer, once won a tournament and, after receiving the check and smiling for the cameras, he went to the clubhouse and prepared to leave. Some time later, he walked alone to his car in the parking lot and was approached by a young woman.

She congratulated him on his victory and then told him that her child was seriously ill and near death. She did not know how she could pay the doctor's bills and hospital expenses.

De Vincenzo was touched by her story, and he took out a pen and endorsed his winning check for payment to the woman. "Make some good days for the baby," he said as he pressed the check into her hand.

The next week he was having lunch in a country club when a Professional Golf Association official came to his table. "Some of the boys in the parking lot last week told me you met a young woman there after you won that tournament." De Vincenzo nodded. "Well," said the official, "I have news for you. She's a phony. She has no sick baby. She's not even married. She fleeced you, my friend."

"You mean there is no baby who is dying?" said De Vincenzo.

"That's right," said the official.

"That's the best good news I've heard all week." De Vincenzo said.

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.

When you consistently maintain a positive frame of mind, you'll become known as a problem-solver rather than a complainer. People avoid complainers. They seek out problem-solvers.

You can give in to the failure messages and be a bitter deadbeat of excuses. Or you can choose to be happy and positive and excited about life. The difference between can and cannot are only three letters that determine your life's direction.


Being positive or negative are habits of thoughts that have a very strong influence on life.

The Best Contribution You Can Make

The Best Contribution You Can Make …


An elderly couple retired to the countryside - to a small isolated cottage overlooking some rugged and rocky heath land. One early morning the woman saw from her window a young man dressed in working clothes walking on the heath, about a hundred yards away. He was carrying a spade and a small case, and he disappeared from view behind a copse of trees.

The woman thought no more about it but around the same time the next day she saw the man again, carrying his spade and a small case, and again he disappeared behind the copse. The woman mentioned this to her husband, who said he was probably a farmer or gamekeeper setting traps, or performing some other country practice that would be perfectly normal, and so not to worry.

However after several more sightings of the young man with the spade over the next two weeks the woman persuaded her husband to take a stroll - early, before the man tended to arrive - to the copse of trees to investigate what he was doing.

There they found a surprisingly long and deep trench, rough and uneven at one end, becoming much neater and tidier towards the other end.

"How strange," the old lady said, "Why dig a trench here - and in such difficult rocky ground?" and her husband agreed.

Just then the young man appeared - earlier than his usual time.

"You're early," said the old woman, making light of their obvious curiosity, "We wondered what you were doing - and we also wondered what was in the case."

"I'm digging a trench," said the man, who continued, realizing a bigger explanation was appropriate, "I'm actually learning how to dig a good trench, because the job I'm being interviewed for later today says that experience is essential - so I'm getting the experience. And the case - it's got my lunch in it."

He got the job.


Moral of the story

Don't wait for anything। Start today if you want to be successful in your life. The best contribution one can make to humanity is to improve oneself. Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack.

Action plan

Times will change for the better when you change। So start taking initiatives whether it is at your work place or at your home. Initiatives are first step towards Self Development.

Rajesh Seshadri

The Comfort Zone

The Comfort Zone...
by Megan Gebhardt

Over time, we all gather a set of constricting habits around us—ones that trap us in a zone of supposed comfort, well below what our potential would allow us to attain। Pretty soon, such habits slip below the level of our consciousness, but they still determine what we think that we can and cannot do—and what we cannot even bring ourselves to try. As long as you let these habits rule you, you'll be stuck in a rut.

About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer for a Telemarketing agency। In one of my first classes the head trainer told a very motivating story about Comfort Zone that I would like to share with you.

He began by drawing a diagram of a stick man standing in the middle of a circle। To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car, and a few friends inside the circle.

He asked the question "Can anyone tell me what this is?" In a long silence, one guy decided to throw out "the world?" The trainer said "That's close, this is your Comfort Zone। Inside your circle you have all the things that are important to you. Your home, your family, your friends, and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any danger or conflict.

"Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle?" A strong silence came over the room। The same eager guy abruptly announced "You are afraid". Another guy said "You make mistakes". The silence continued and the trainer smiled and said "When you make mistakes what can the result be?" The first guy shouts "You learn something."

"Exactly, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow pointing from the stick man directly to the outside of the circle. He proceeded to say "When you leave your Comfort Zone you put yourself out there, in front of the world to be in a situations that you are not comfortable with. The end result is that you have learned something that you did not already know, you expand your knowledge to become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the original circle, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house etc.

"The moral of the story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Zone you will never be able to expand your horizons and learn. When you step out of your Comfort Zone you will eventually make your circle bigger, to challenge your mind and grow to be stronger, and all in all a better person."

OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR SELF-IMPOSED PRISON AND WALK FREE

Lesson from a Tea Cup

More often we hear people complaining that "what have I done to deserve this?" Why God is not listening to my prayers? They also ask other people to pray for them as they have lost faith in God। Please read this little story of a cup as it explains why God doesn't listen to your prayers when you want Him to listen. We all go through very difficult and painful time in life that we think that it is the end of the world. Most people run here and there in search of new God, new religion or quick fix. But we can all understand God's grace from this little story of a Tea Cup...

Lesson from a Tea Cup

Once there was a young man। He was rather immature and inexperienced, but was ready to learn new things। He had a strong liking for antiques and was happy to visit different antique stores when he was on holidays. He traveled all over the world and collected many antiques. Over the time he developed a strong interest in antique pottery and especially in tea cups. He felt that they all had their unique stories to tell.

Once while he was in an old fortress in Serbia which had been partially transformed into a museum, he spotted an exceptional tea cup in a dusty antique store which clearly had Turkish influences। He asked the seller: "May I see that exceptionally beautiful tea cup over there? It seems to come from Turkey. As the man handed him the tea cup, our young man suddenly heard the tea cup speak up:

"Thank you for liking me," it said, "I have not always been a tea cup। There was a time when I had no idea what service meant. I was just a dumb lump of red clay. Let me tell you my story and I am sure you will learn from it.

I've lived for many, many thousands of years। I've witnessed wars and peace coming and going. Whole civilizations rolled over me as I sat there waiting. Then one day my master came. He took me, brought me home, rolled and pounded me on a wooden table. Again and again, he poked his fingers into me until finally I yelled out "don't do that!' Imagine someone would take you like this. , Leave me alone!' But he only smiled and gently said "Not yet!"

The tea cup became more and more alive as he spoke to the shocked young man "Then, whoommmm! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly spun around and around and around until I lost all my sense of direction: Stop it, don't you see that I'm getting sick? Quickly, take me from the spinning wheel!' But the master only nodded in understanding and quietly said "not yet!'

He only bent me in and out of shape to suit his plan with me॥ "Then he placed me carefully into an oven। I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door: It is hotter than hell - I'm burning to ashes. Please get me out of here before it is too late.' I could see him through a tiny hole. I could only read his lips as he shook his head from side to side and silently pronounced, "Not yet!'

"When I thought I could not bear the heat for another minute, the door opened। He carefully took me out and put me on a shelf where I began to cool. It felt so good to be left alone. "But more was going to come. After I had cooled down he carefully picked me up, looked at me and brushed some dust away. Then he brought the colors and something transparent - the glaze. The fumes were horrible! I thought I would suffocate! , I said please... have mercy! Don't you understand my misery? Please, please, please! Stop it! "But he only shook his head and said "Not yet, you're not yet ready!"

"Then unexpectedly and very quickly he put me back into the oven। Only it was about twice or trice as hot as the first time - this was the most intense. From the beginning I felt... this is my death... I begged... I pleaded ... I threatened ... I screamed ... Finally, I cried without tears. Not even hot tears. I was convinced I will never make it. I was ready to give up॥ "Just then - in the last second as I was slowly fainting, the door opened and he took me out. And again placed me on the shelf - where I cooled and waited... and waited ... and waited.

"What was he going to do next? An hour or so later he came back and placed a mirror before me and said: ,Look at yourself!' And I did। "What I saw amazed me. It is what you see now. That's not me! I said. That cannot be me... It is too beautiful, "With a very compassionate voice my master spoke "This is what you are meant to be" and then he explained everything that was needed for me to look so beautiful.

He said "I know it hurt you when I rolled and kneaded you on the table। But if I had not gotten the air out of you, you would have broken.' "I knew you must have lost all your sense of orientation when I was spinning you. But without this you would never have come into this form. I know the fumes of the colors in the glaze were intolerable when I painted you all over. But if I had not done that, you would not have had any color in your life and you would not have hardened. And when I placed you in the second oven I knew that this would be the most severe part. But without it you would have broken very easily when the realities of life would have come. Believe me all I did was for your good. Now you are what I had in mind when I first saw you on the ground. Now you are a finished product."

With this the tea cup stopped speaking - but there was a tear of gratefulness coming from its beautiful rim।

The young man purchased the tea cup and only used it when he offered something to God। He never forgot the lesson he received from it. Whenever he was in a difficult situation and he felt like calling out, stop it! Leave me alone!', he remembered the words of the tea cup maker: "Not yet...!" However, he also became grateful - for he knew that everything that happened was designed by the Lord to make him what he was meant to become.

We should also have complete faith in God that HE knows what HE is doing for each of us. He is the potter and we are the clay. He will mold us and make us ready. He will also expose us to just enough pressures that we will become a perfect piece of His liking. So we should not misinterpret his divine grace and run here and there to search for new master. We should have faith in our master and learn to tolerate whatever we go through in our life as whatever he is doing is for our own good. Build such a relationship with him that he will become your parent and will be always around you to protect you and grant you all the happiness you deserve.

V RENGARAJAN

The Traveler and the Tiger…

This story is from the Hitopadesa

Once upon a time in the southern forests there dwelt a certain old tiger. Everyday he would take a ceremonial bath and, gathering some sacred grass in his paw, he would call out to the passers-by as he sat at the edge of a pond: come travelers, come! Someone come and take this gold bracelet which I am giving away free!

This attracted a traveler, but he felt some hesitation. He thought within himself, "bonanza here! But there may be a trap. Therefore, I must not be hasty where a risk is involved. People say, the result of getting a desirable object from an undesirable source is not good; indeed, even nectar, when tainted with poison, brings about one's 'death. But then, any enterprise involves risk. Playing, safe, you win nothing. To gain success you must take calculated risks. Let me examine this offer closely”. There upon he called aloud: "Where is your bracelet?"

The tiger stretched out a paw and showed it to him, but the traveler said: “How am I to trust someone with a murderous nature like you”. The tiger replied: “My friend, your doubts and fears are certainly justified as I was killer once. In my youth I killed so many human beings and cattle that my sins destroyed my wife and children. And now I am without heirs. Then, by Divine Grace, I met a holy man, who gave me wholesome advice. Obeying him, I repented all my sins, gave away all I had in charity. I am old, my teeth and claws are gone: no one need fear me. I spend my time in ritual baths and alms giving. The scriptures prescribe the eightfold path of virtue - sacrifice, religious study, charity, penance, truthfulness, patience, forgiveness, and lack of greed. Of these, the first four may be practiced merely for ostentation, but the last four belong to the truly great. And I, being, free from greed, wish to give away, somehow to someone this gold bracelet, my last possession. I admit it is difficult to refute the belief that tigers eat people. For the world never thinks for itself, but blindly does what has been done before. But I have studied the scriptures diligently, and I follow their teachings. Let me remind you of them.

It is said:

1. "As rain to a desert, as food to the hungry, so satisfying is a gift to the poor",

2. "As one's life is dear to oneself so is life dear to every creature. The good think of others as themselves, and show compassion".

3. "While giving or while refusing, in joy or in sorrow, in liking, or in disliking. A man should judge by placing himself in the other's position. You are a poor fellow, and so I would like you to have this bracelet".

4. "Give to the needy; do not add wealth to the rich. The sick man needs medicine. What use of it to one in health"

5. "The best charity is giving for giving’s sake, at the proper place and time, to one who deserves it, and from whom nothing is expected in return".

Therefore, have a Holy bath in this lake, and then take this golden bracelet as a gift from me. The traveler felt confidence at the tiger's words, but no sooner did he enter the pool in order to bathe than he found himself stuck fast in the mud and unable to run away. When the tiger saw him held deep in the mud he said: Oh! You have fallen into the mud; I will just lift you out of it. With these words he gently approached the traveler.

As the tiger seized the traveler, he (the traveler) thought to himself, “I was a fool to trust this killer. I did not do well in having faith in this murderous beast" With these and other thoughts passing through his mind, the traveler was killed by the tiger and eaten.

The above story proves how greed robs learned man of his wisdom. It also tells us that animals (also animals in human form) do not deviate from their instinctive behavior – (Swabhava). However, human beings have intellect and power of discretion, which when used in deviation of their value based instinctive behavior (Swabhava), lead to all sort of problems.

Spices of Life

Salt, Pepper and the Spices of Life…

You’re sitting at a table, having a meal with some friends. Bowls of soup are served to everyone at the table. Before tasting the soup, the person next to you reaches for the salt and pepper, and for the next 20 seconds vigorously shakes into the soup more salt and pepper than you would use in a month.

You have a pained look on your face. These thoughts immediately go through your mind: 'Why would you put salt and pepper in soup, or on any dish, BEFORE you taste it? How do you know how much to add?' You might also think, 'How can someone put so much salt and pepper in their food?'

Of course, the roles could be reversed. You might be the one who loves to put a lot of salt and pepper on your food and the person next to you eats the soup without adding salt or pepper. In that case, you think, 'How can she eat this bland soup without putting any seasoning in it?'

When it comes to salt, pepper, onions, garlic, curry or just about any type of seasoning, we tend to see things only one way - OUR way. It's hard for us to understand how someone could enjoy food when it is not seasoned as we think is appropriate. We cringe when we see someone 'overdoing' or 'under-doing' the spices.

How we season our food is a matter of preference and personal taste. There is no right or wrong way to use seasonings. Furthermore, the way in which another applies salt and pepper does not affect us in any way. They're not putting the salt and pepper in YOUR soup. They are putting the spices in their own soup.

Our world is so diverse, and yet it is difficult for us to accept each other's preferences. Often, when we see people doing things we wouldn't do, our mind says:

Why aren't they thinking as I think?

Why aren't they acting as I would act?

Your mind would often have you believe that your way is superior. Your beliefs and habits are shaped by your genetics and your environment. Each person has different genetics and as grown up in an environment that is different than yours. Why expect everyone to come to the same conclusion?

Our spiritual growth comes when we learn to accept that others have different preferences, and we honor those preferences. There is no universal religion that everyone will agree to practice. There is no universal political viewpoint that all will accept. There is no one way of raising children that all cultures will agree upon. Marriage customs will vary from culture to culture.

Getting people to agree on these issues is like trying to get everyone to use the same amount of salt and pepper on their food. It's not going to happen.

The diversity in this world is beautiful and we can open our hearts to it. Within our own country and in our relations with people in other countries, we need to continually remind ourselves that it's perfectly acceptable for people to have preferences. If the other person is not harming us, why can't we just smile and get on with life?

The next time you're tempted to judge or criticize the way other people think or act, realize that in most cases, they're just using a different amount of salt or pepper than you would use. Allow them to have their preferences, and there is no need to even consider what YOU would do.

'You cannot always oblige but you can speak always obligingly' –

Geethashree Narayan

Be a Lake!!!

Stop being a GLASS, become a LAKE!!!

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master asked. "Awful," spat the apprentice.

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake.

The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake." As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does it taste?"

"Good!" remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into.

"So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things ..... Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"

Ducks and Eagles

Ducks Quack, Eagles Fly

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: "I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement."

Taken aback, Harvey read the card... It said:

Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf."

My friend said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink." Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice." Almost stuttering, Harvey said, "I'll take a Diet Coke." Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today."

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio."

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

"Tell me, Wally," my amazed friend asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this?"

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. "No, not always, in fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle... Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'"

"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. "Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more." "I take it that has paid off for you," Harvey said.

"It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action."

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us???

Change the WORLD

Do you want to Change the WORLD ?

Then read this....

There was a millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain.

He consulted so many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He did not stop consulting galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections.

But the ache persisted with great vigour than before. At last a monk who has supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the millionaire.

The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colours and not to fall his eyes on any other colours.

The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted in green colour just as the monk had directed.

When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire' s servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress, lest their master not see any other colour and his eye ache would come back.

Hearing this monk laughed said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune.

You cannot paint the world green." Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.

Lets change our vision..!!

DOG'S CURLY TAIL……

THE WORLD A DOG'S CURLY TAIL……

This is story told by Swami Vivekananda in his book on Vedanta.

There was a poor man who wanted some money. Somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage, who could give him a ghost.

When he requested for a ghost, the sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. "I want a ghost to work for me. Teach me how to get hold of one, sir. I desire it very much", replied the man. But the sage said:" Don't disturb your-self. Go home". The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray: "Give me ghost. I must have a ghost, sir, to help me." At last the sage was disgusted and said: "Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come. And whatever you say to him he will do. But beware! They are terrible beings and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life". The man replied:" That is easy. I can give him work for his whole life".

Then he went to a forest and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him and said: 'I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you". The man said, "Build me a palace," "Bring me money," said the man. "Here is your money," said the ghost. "Cut this forest down and build a city in its place." "That is done," said the ghost. Anything more?

Now the man began to be frightened and though he could give him nothing more to do. He did everything in a trice. The ghost said, "Give me something to do or I will eat you up." The poor man could find no further occupation for him and was frightened. So he ran and ran and at last reached the sage and said, "Oh, sir, save my life!" The sage asked him what the matter was, and the man replied: "I have nothing to give the ghost to do. Everything I tell him to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me up if I do not give him work." Just then the ghost arrived, saying, "I will eat you up," and he was about to swallow the man. The man began to shake, and begged the sage to save his life.

The sage said: "I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail, give it to the ghost to straighten out". The man gave the dog's tail to the ghost, saying, "Straighten that out for me." The ghost took it and slowly and carefully straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled up again. Once more he laboriously straightened it out, only to find it again curled up as soon as he attempted to let go of it. Again he patiently straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go it curled up again. So he went on for days and days, until he was exhausted and said:" I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old, veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble. I will make a compromise with you. You let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you." The man was much pleased and accepted the offer gladly.

Swami Vivekananda explains: This world is like a dog's curly tail, and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years। But when they let it go, it curls up again. How could it be otherwise? So we should always remember the instance of the curly tail of the dog. We need not worry or make ourselves sleepless about the world. It will go on without each of us. Our worries will not help it. But when we stop worrying about the world, then alone will we be able to work well. The one who is complaining all the time is foolish and has no sympathy. He can never straighten out the world, nor can he improve himself.