Here are some more teaching stories.
I am sure you have read the earlier one’s – if you haven’t, dear Reader, just click the link below – and after you’ve read them remember to come back here –
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/06/teaching-stories.htm
Teaching stories have a special quality. If read in a certain kind of way they produce spiritual growth. There are three ways to read teaching stories:-
• Read the story once. Then move on to another. This manner of reading will give you entertainment; maybe produce a laugh, like a joke.
• Read the story twice. Reflect on it. Apply it to your life. That will give you a taste of theology.
• Read the story again, after you have reflected on it. Carry the story around in your mind all day and allow its fragrance, its melody to haunt you. Create a silence within you and let the story reveal to you its inner depth and meaning. Let it speak to your heart, not to your brain. This will give you a feel for the mystical and you will develop the art of tasting and feeling the inner meaning of such stories to the point that they transform you.
Read on, Dear Reader, and transform yourself:
BEAUTY
Nasrudin bought an old haunted house [a “Bhoot Bangla”] at a desolate place in a nearby hill-station.
From time to time he would suddenly pack his bags, leave the city, and go away to his house in the hill station, disappearing for days, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. And just as suddenly as he used to disappear, he used to unpredictably return back to the city, suddenly, without any warning or notice.
When asked the reason for his erratic and whimsical behaviour, Nasrudin explained:
“I have kept a caretaker woman up there in the hills to look after my house. She is the ugliest woman - horrible, repulsive, hideous, nauseating. Just one look at her and one feels like vomiting.
When I go to live there, at first she looks horrible. But slowly, slowly, after a few lonely days, she is not so horrible. Then after some more desolate forlorn days, she doesn’t seem that undesirable. And as more and more time passes in lonesome seclusion, a day comes when I start seeing some beauty in her.
The day I start seeing beauty in that horrid woman I escape from the hill-station, because that means enough is enough – I have lived away from the real world for too long - now even this horrible revolting woman has started looking beautiful! I may even fall in love with this ghastly ugly repugnant woman - that's dangerous.
So I pack up my things and rush back to the city.”
RECIPE
One day Mulla Nasrudin went to the fish market and bought a fine Pomfret fish.
On the way home he met a friend who gave him a special recipe for cooking the Pomfret fish.
Nasrudin was very happy, and his mouth watered as in his mind’s eye he was already relishing the delicious dish of Pomfret fish he was going to enjoy for dinner.
While he was daydreaming, a large crow suddenly swooped down from the sky and stole the fish from his hands and flew off with the Pomfret fish.
“You thief! “Mulla Nasrudin angrily shouted at the crow, “You have stolen my fish. But you won’t enjoy it – I have got the recipe!”
LOGIC
Visiting a new place, Mulla Nasrudin was walking on the road and a vicious looking dog barked at him and began menacingly running towards him.
Mulla Nasrudin quickly bent down to pick up a mile-stone fixed on the side of the road divider to throw at the animal. He could not lift it, for the stone was cemented firmly to the earth.
“What a strange place this is! What crazy logic?" Nasrudin exclaimed. "They tie up the stones and let the dogs go free."
And then he sped off!
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
vikramkarve@hotmail.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
TEACHING STORIES
Teaching stories may relate events that are funny, foolish, bemusing, sometimes even apparently stupid, but they usually have deeper meanings.
A good teaching story has several levels of meaning and interpretation and offers us opportunities to think in new ways. At first you may just have a good laugh but as you reflect on the story, the significance becomes more and more profound.
A teaching story veils its knowledge and as you ruminate, the walls of its outer meanings crumble away and the beauty of the previously invisible inner wisdom is revealed, and you begin to identify yourself in the story, and to acknowledge that you too could be as foolish or as lacking in discernment as the characters in these classic tales.
An example of the concept of teaching stories is embodied in the “wisdom” tales of the inimitable Mulla Nasrudin narrated by Sufis to illustrate finer aspects of human behaviour which are relevant to both our personal and professional lives.
You can reflect, introspect or take them with a pinch of salt – the choice is yours! After reading this you may ask me: “You relate stories, but you do not tell us how to understand them” – to which I will reply:” How would you like it if the shopkeeper from whom you bought a banana peeled it, ate the deliciously nourishing fruit before your eyes, leaving you only the skin?”
One of the great bonuses in learning through humour is that even as you have a good time and doubt that you have learned anything, the lessons penetrate subtly, permeate within and stay with you, to come alive when the need arises.
If you are a serious type, devoid of a sense of humour, please skip this and move on to more profound and sombre reading. This is fun. Enjoy yourself, dear reader, and try to identify yourself in the apocryphal stories.
TRAFFIC DISCIPLINE
Rushing to work on his motorcycle Nasrudin jumped a red light. He was promptly stopped by a Traffic Policeman, who asked Nasrudin to pay Rs.100.
“What for? Why should I pay Rs.100?” Nasrudin asked.
“It’s a fine. For breaking the traffic rules. You jumped the red light,” said the cop.
“Okay,” Nasrudin said, “You owe me five hundred rupees. Give me Rs.500.”
“What nonsense?” shouted the infuriated cop. “Why should I pay you Rs.500?”
“For the six times I correctly crossed the green lights, you owe me Rs.600. From that you deduct your fine of Rs.100. That means you owe me Rs.500,” said a nonchalant Nasrudin. “If you punish me for doing the wrong thing, you must reward me for doing the right thing.”
THE RIGHT SOLUTION
Strolling on a beach, Nasrudin noticed some fishermen huddled lighting a fire near a wooden boat, and curious, he asked a them what it was for.
“We are melting tar,” said a fisherman.
“Tar?” Nasrudin asked confused.
“Yes, we are making tar to cover the cracks in the underside of the boat. That makes the vessels go faster.”
Nasrudin rushed straight home and made a bonfire. Then he tied up his donkey and melted some tar in a pan. As soon as he brought the smoking tar near the animal, it broke loose, ran like the wind and disappeared over the horizon.
“It works all right!” reflected Mulla Nasrudin.
GRIEF
The donkey did not return for many days and Nasrudin was overcome with grief.
“You may have lost your donkey, Mulla Nasrudin, but you don’t have to grieve over it more than you did about the loss of your first wife.”
“Ah,” Nasrudin said, “if you remember when I lost my wife, all you villagers consoled me and said: ‘We will find you someone else.’ So far, nobody has offered to replace my donkey.”
FASHION SHOW
One day Nasrudin went to a fashion show and his friends asked him how he liked it.
“They cheat you,” Nasrudin complained, “They show you the women – and then they try to sell you the clothes.”
TIP
Nasrudin went to a posh restaurant and ordered a cup of coffee. He was dressed in ordinary clothes and received no attention. While leaving he left a tip of one thousand rupees.
The next day he came dressed in a three-piece suit. The waiters and all the staff lavished him with the highest attention thinking they would receive an even more generous tip.
After thoroughly enjoying the pampering, Nasrudin left a tip of just one rupee, saying: "This is for the service you gave me yesterday, the thousand rupees were for the service today."
Hope you enjoyed the stories
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
A good teaching story has several levels of meaning and interpretation and offers us opportunities to think in new ways. At first you may just have a good laugh but as you reflect on the story, the significance becomes more and more profound.
A teaching story veils its knowledge and as you ruminate, the walls of its outer meanings crumble away and the beauty of the previously invisible inner wisdom is revealed, and you begin to identify yourself in the story, and to acknowledge that you too could be as foolish or as lacking in discernment as the characters in these classic tales.
An example of the concept of teaching stories is embodied in the “wisdom” tales of the inimitable Mulla Nasrudin narrated by Sufis to illustrate finer aspects of human behaviour which are relevant to both our personal and professional lives.
You can reflect, introspect or take them with a pinch of salt – the choice is yours! After reading this you may ask me: “You relate stories, but you do not tell us how to understand them” – to which I will reply:” How would you like it if the shopkeeper from whom you bought a banana peeled it, ate the deliciously nourishing fruit before your eyes, leaving you only the skin?”
One of the great bonuses in learning through humour is that even as you have a good time and doubt that you have learned anything, the lessons penetrate subtly, permeate within and stay with you, to come alive when the need arises.
If you are a serious type, devoid of a sense of humour, please skip this and move on to more profound and sombre reading. This is fun. Enjoy yourself, dear reader, and try to identify yourself in the apocryphal stories.
TRAFFIC DISCIPLINE
Rushing to work on his motorcycle Nasrudin jumped a red light. He was promptly stopped by a Traffic Policeman, who asked Nasrudin to pay Rs.100.
“What for? Why should I pay Rs.100?” Nasrudin asked.
“It’s a fine. For breaking the traffic rules. You jumped the red light,” said the cop.
“Okay,” Nasrudin said, “You owe me five hundred rupees. Give me Rs.500.”
“What nonsense?” shouted the infuriated cop. “Why should I pay you Rs.500?”
“For the six times I correctly crossed the green lights, you owe me Rs.600. From that you deduct your fine of Rs.100. That means you owe me Rs.500,” said a nonchalant Nasrudin. “If you punish me for doing the wrong thing, you must reward me for doing the right thing.”
THE RIGHT SOLUTION
Strolling on a beach, Nasrudin noticed some fishermen huddled lighting a fire near a wooden boat, and curious, he asked a them what it was for.
“We are melting tar,” said a fisherman.
“Tar?” Nasrudin asked confused.
“Yes, we are making tar to cover the cracks in the underside of the boat. That makes the vessels go faster.”
Nasrudin rushed straight home and made a bonfire. Then he tied up his donkey and melted some tar in a pan. As soon as he brought the smoking tar near the animal, it broke loose, ran like the wind and disappeared over the horizon.
“It works all right!” reflected Mulla Nasrudin.
GRIEF
The donkey did not return for many days and Nasrudin was overcome with grief.
“You may have lost your donkey, Mulla Nasrudin, but you don’t have to grieve over it more than you did about the loss of your first wife.”
“Ah,” Nasrudin said, “if you remember when I lost my wife, all you villagers consoled me and said: ‘We will find you someone else.’ So far, nobody has offered to replace my donkey.”
FASHION SHOW
One day Nasrudin went to a fashion show and his friends asked him how he liked it.
“They cheat you,” Nasrudin complained, “They show you the women – and then they try to sell you the clothes.”
TIP
Nasrudin went to a posh restaurant and ordered a cup of coffee. He was dressed in ordinary clothes and received no attention. While leaving he left a tip of one thousand rupees.
The next day he came dressed in a three-piece suit. The waiters and all the staff lavished him with the highest attention thinking they would receive an even more generous tip.
After thoroughly enjoying the pampering, Nasrudin left a tip of just one rupee, saying: "This is for the service you gave me yesterday, the thousand rupees were for the service today."
Hope you enjoyed the stories
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
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