INNER PEACE

Here is a story from the life of Buddha that highlights the importance of a calm mind:

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers.

While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake.

They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am feeling thirsty.  Please get me some water from that lake there.” 

The disciple walked up to the lake.  When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water, and right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake.  As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. 

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink...?”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy.  I don’t think it is fit to drink.”   

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink.   

The disciple obediently went back to the lake.   

This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it.  The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be consumed.  So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.   

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean.  You let it be…. and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water.  Your mind is also like that!  When it is disturbed, just let it be.  Give it a little time.  It will settle down on its own.  You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down.  It will happen.  It is effortless.”

When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside.  It spreads around you and in the environment and helps you make better decisions. 

Conversely, you could be in very peaceful surroundings, where everything is wonderfully beautiful but if your inside is disturbed, then that beauty is of no use to you. For you to be peaceful, peace has to be generated from deep within you - from your being to the mind, and from the mind to the environment. 

For example, even if you have the best music system, you cannot truly enjoy music if you are mentally disturbed. 

In fact, it is more important to be in a sublime state of inner peace and to be in harmony with oneself in order to relish the finer things of life.

THE PERFECT WIFE - A Mulla Nasrudin Story

The Perfect Wife...The Perfect Husband...The Perfect Match...The Perfect Marriage

 A Mulla Nasrudin Story  

By

 

VIKRAM KARVE  

 

 

There is a beautiful and bright young girl who lives in my neighbourhood.

She wants to get married but it seems that she just can’t seem to find anyone suitable matching her "stringent" requirements.

She is surrounded by so many “eligible” boys, colleagues at work, in her friends circle, if she prefers a "love" marriage; and also she has “seen” and “rejected” a large number of boys her parents and well-wishers keep lining up for her, in case she wants to go in for an "arranged" marriage.

None of the boys seems to come up to her perfect standards and high expectations. But one thing is sure - she does want to get married.

 

I wonder whether I should tell her this apocryphal Mulla Nasrudin Teaching story – THE PERFECT WIFE :

 

Mulla Nasrudin was sitting in a tea shop when a friend came excitedly to speak with him.

 

“I am about to get married,” his friend said, “and I am so very excited.”

 

“Congratulations,” Mulla Nasrudin said, nonchalant,  pokerfaced.

 

“Tell me, Nasrudin, have you ever thought of marriage yourself?” the about to get married friend asked Mulla Nasrudin who had remained a chronic bachelor.

 

Nasrudin replied, “Of course I did think of getting married. In my youth, in fact, I very much wanted to get married.”

 

“So, what happened...?” the friend asked curious.

 

“I wanted to find for myself the perfect wife,” Nasrudin said, “so I travelled looking for the perfect wife. I first went to Damascus. There I met a beautiful woman who was gracious, kind, and deeply spiritual, but she had no worldly knowledge."

"Oh, how sad...!" said the friend, " then what did you do...?

"Then I travelled further and went to Isphahan. There I met a woman who was both spiritual and worldly, beautiful in many ways, but her social graces were not of the highest standards.”

 

“What a tragedy...then what did you do...you gave up...?” the friend asked.

 

“No...No...I don't give up so easily...and I very much wanted  to get married...so I kept on searching for the perfect wife and travelled all over the world meeting so many women..." Nasrudin said.

 

“And did you find her...? Tell me, did you finally find the perfect wife...?” the friend asked eagerly.

 

“Yes,” Nasrudin said, “after travelling all over finally I went to Cairo and there after much searching I found her. She was spiritually deep, graceful, and beautiful in every respect, at home in the world and at home in the realms beyond it. I knew I had found the perfect wife.”

 

“Then why did you not marry her...?” the friend asked excitedly.

 

“Alas,” said Nasrudin as he shook his head in dismay, “Unfortunately, she was searching for the perfect husband.”

 

 

Dear Reader, please be so good as to advise me:

Should I tell the beautiful and bright young girl this Mulla Nasrudin story right now...?

Or should I wait till she perfects the art of remaining single...?

 

 

VIKRAM KARVE

 

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

vikramkarve@sify.com

PROHIBITION

A Teaching Story

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Here is a Ancient Wisdom Story titled “Prohibition”

Concerned at the increasing drunkenness and alcoholism in his kingdom, a famous king imposed strict prohibition on wine and liquor.

Earlier most people in that kingdom used to make their own liquor at home and had all the paraphernalia for distilling home-made liquor, and though they had stopped distilling liquor at home after prohibition was imposed, many such innocent people were arrested merely for possession of vats and distillery apparatus in their houses and they were punished severely in the same terms as those actually caught making illegal illicit liquor.

The Prime Minister advised the King not to be so severe with those people who merely had vats in their homes and were not actually distilling liquor but the king would not budge saying that even those having the tools of the trade deserved punishment.

One day,the king was driving his chariot along with his Prime Minister in the country when they saw a young man sitting under a tree.

“Have that man arrested…!” the Prime Minister told the King.

“What has he done…?” asked the king in puzzlement.

“That man is going to commit adultery…!” the Prime Minister proclaimed.

“How do you know…?” the king asked perplexed.

“He has the tools of adultery, just as those people have their vats…!”

The king broke out into a loud laugh and ordered that the people arrested for mere possession of vats be released immediately.



VIKRAM KARVE

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com


http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

vikramkarve@sify.com

Theory of Relativity Made Simple

THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Ancient Wisdom

A Mulla Nasrudin Teaching Story

Retold by VIKRAM KARVE


Dear Reader, here is an apocryphal Mulla Nasrudin Story to brighten up your day and enlighten you:

One day Mulla Nasrudin’s neighbour came over to ask for some advice on how to manage his large family in his tiny little house.

“Dear Mulla Nasrudin,” he bemoaned, “my house is so small that all of us just cannot fit inside – me and my wife, my mother-in-law, three children... we are all so cramped up in our small cottage where there is hardly any space. You are a wise man, and maybe you can find some solution to my problem so please tell me what to do!”

“I noticed that you rear chickens – how many do have in your barn behind your house?” Nasrudin asked.

“I have five chickens and a rooster,” the neighbour said.

“Take them all into the house!”

“What?” the neighbour asked aghast, “how is it possible? My house is already so small and overcrowded. Where is the place for the chickens?”

“Try it!” Nasrudin insisted, “And I am sure you will come and meet me tomorrow and tell me that your problem has been solved.”

The neighbour was not convinced but he did not dare to question the wisdom of Mulla Nasrudin, so he took the five chickens and the rooster inside the house.

The next morning he ran to Nasrudin’s house.

“You have made our problem worse – me, my wife, my mother-in-law, three kids, five chickens and a rooster – it is impossible for all of us to fit inside the small house – there is no space at all!” the neighbour lamented.

However, Mulla Nasrudin ignored his griping and asked the man, “You have a donkey, don't you? I have seen a donkey tied up outside your house.”

“Yes, Nasrudin, I have one old donkey,” answered the neighbour.

“Take the donkey in!” Nasrudin told the man.

No matter how much the neighbour protested, Nasrudin maintained that it was for his best and the hapless neighbour did as he was told.

The next morning, he ran back to meet Nasrudin, and said in total despair, “Nasrudin, it is just not possible. The wife, the mother-in-law, the kids, the chickens, the rooster and the donkey! We had a most terrible night. There is no room even to breathe!”

“If I remember correctly, you have two lambs, don’t you?” Nasrudin asked his neighbour.

“Oh, no! Please don't tell me to take the lambs in. There will be total chaos…”

“Don't worry, my friend,” Nasrudin interrupted and assured the desperate neighbour, “You will thank me for solving your problem in the end.”

The neighbour, hoping against hope that Nasrudin’s crazy advice may miraculously work out, took the two lambs into his packed house that night.

The next morning, the neighbour, in a totally inconsolable state, landed up at Mulla Nasrudin’s door, and pleaded in agony, “Nasrudin, why are you torturing us, making us suffer like this? My small house is jam-packed, teeming with bodies and stinking. My mother-in-law is threatening to kill me, my wife is about to leave me and my children are furious. It is appalling, sickening, your advice has made matters worse.”

Nasrudin patiently listened to his neighbour and said nonchalantly: “Okay, now take all the animals and birds out of the house – chickens, rooster, donkey and lambs – all back to the garden, back to the barn, back to the shed. Throw them all out of the house to where they belong!”

Next morning the grateful neighbour thanked Mulla Nasrudin, “Sir, you are indeed a wise man. You solved my problem. Now, our house is so large, so roomy, and so airy, so much space for everyone, kids can play, we can sleep, everyone is happy. Thank you so much.”

Dear Reader, please tell us what is the moral of this story.

VIKRAM KARVE

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

vikramkarve@sify.com

TIT for TAT - A Teaching Story

TIT FOR TAT

Art of Cooking

A Teaching Story

By

VIKRAM KARVE

On a freezing cold snowy winter day Mulla Nasrudin was having a chat with some of his friends in the local coffee house.

Mulla Nasrudin said that cold weather did not bother him, and in fact, he could stay, if necessary, all right without any heat.

“We’ll take you up on that, Mulla Nasrudin,” his friends said. “If you stand all night in the village square without warming yourself by any external means each of us will treat you to sumptuous meal. But if you fail to do so, you will treat all of us to dinner.”

“All right, it’s a bet,” Mulla Nasrudin said and that very night Mulla Nasrudin stood shivering all night in the village square till the morning despite the bitter cold.

In the morning he ran triumphantly to his friends and told them he had won the bet and that they should be ready to fulfil their promise of treating him to a sumptuous meal.

“As a matter of fact you lost the bet, Mulla Nasrudin,” said his friends.

“Lost the bet? How is that possible? I stood in the freezing cold all night,” Nasrudin asked perplexed.

“At about midnight, just before we went to sleep, we saw a candle burning in a window about three hundred yards away from where you were standing. That certainly means that you warmed yourself by it,” the friends said.

“That’s ridiculous, “Mulla Nasrudin argued. “How can a candle so far away behind a window warm a person standing outside in the freezing cold more than three hundred yards away?”

All his protestations were to no avail and it was decided that Mulla Nasrudin had lost the bet.

Mulla Nasrudin accepted gracefully the verdict and invited all of them to dinner that night at his home.

All his friends arrived on time, laughing and joking; they had built up a ravenous appetite in eager anticipation of the delicious meal Mulla Nasrudin was going to serve them.

But dinner was not ready.

Mulla Nasrudin told them that it would be ready in a short time and left the room to prepare the meal.

Hours passed and still no dinner was served. Neither did Nasrudin emerge even once from his kitchen.

Finally, getting impatient and very hungry his friends went into the kitchen to see if there was any food cooking at all.

They looked in disbelief at what they saw.

Mulla Nasrudin was standing by a huge cooking pot suspended from the ceiling and there was a small lighted candle under the large cooking pot.

“Be patient my friends,” Mulla Nasrudin assured his friends, “Dinner will be ready soon. You see it is cooking in front of you in this pot.”

“Are you out of your mind, Mulla Nasrudin?” they shouted in exasperation, “How could such a tiny flame boil such a large pot?”

“Your ignorance of such matters amuses me,” Mulla Nasrudin said nonchalantly, “If the flame of a candle behind a window three hundred yards away can warm a person, surely the same flame will boil this pot which is only three inches away.”

Dear Reader, any comments?

VIKRAM KARVE

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

vikramkarve@sify.com

Greed, Love, Lust

GREED AND LUST

[A Teaching Story from the Panchatantra]

By

VIKRAM KARVE


There was an old man, a good natured simple farmer, who had a young wife.

The young wife was not satisfied with her aged simpleton husband, neglected her household work, and always yearned for the company of young handsome men.

One day, a smart young good-looking man saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world and I am the most eligible bachelor. I have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you. Please give me the pleasure of your company.”

Delighted, the woman said to the young Casanova, “Listen my dear, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I will take out all the money and jewellery and let us elope to some other town and live there happily ever after.”

The con-man was very happy and asked her to bring all her wealth to the mango orchard near the river at midnight where he would be waiting for her.

“We will both disappear in the darkness and head for the next town,” he told assured her.
The lusty woman waited till it was dark and when her husband fell asleep she stole all the money, jewellery and gold, packed it in a bag and left the house at midnight to meet the trickster at a place he had indicated. The trickster took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry it and walked towards the river.

The smart young handsome man looked at the woman and thought, “What is the point of wasting my whole life with this woman? She seems a bit older than me too and soon may turn into a shrew. Also if she couldn’t be loyal to her husband she may ditch me too for someone else. It is better I dump her but take her money and jewellery with me.”

With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult to cross the river. I will first swim with the money bag to the other side of the river and keeping it there I will come back and carry you on my back.”

She readily agreed and gave the bag to her new found lover.

He asked her to take off her clothes too and give them to him to carry across the river as he felt her clothes would hinder swimming. She took off all her clothes and gave them to the man who swam across the river the money-bag and her clothes.

Covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting restlessly for her lover to return.

Just then a jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by. The jackal saw that big juicy fish had been washed ashore by a wave and desperate to catch it the jackal ran towards the fish and in the process he dropped the meat piece from his mouth.

But suddenly another big wave took the fish back into the water.

Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the piece of meat, but meanwhile a crow dived down fast and took the meat piece away before the jackal could reach it.

The woman laughed at the greedy jackal who had lost the both the fish and also the piece of meat.

Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the jackal said, “Don’t laugh you stupid woman. I lost a piece of meat due to my greed but you have lost everything – your husband, your lover and your wealth – due to your lust.”

Tell me, Dear Reader, what is the moral of this story?

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

TEACHING STORIES

Teaching Stories

by

VIKRAM KARVE


A wise man told a small boy to get water from the well. “Make sure you don’t break the pot!” he shouted, and then suddenly gave the child a tight slap.

A shocked spectator asked him, “Why did you hit the poor boy who has done nothing wrong?”

“Because, you fool,” said the wise man, “it would be too late to punish him after he broke the pot, wouldn’t it?”



This is a Teaching Story.

Teaching Stories have a special quality – if read in a certain kind of way they enlighten you. Teaching stories are Gems of Wisdom.

There are three ways to read a Teaching Story:

· Read the story once. Then move on to another. This manner of reading will give you entertainment – maybe produce a laugh; like jokes.

· Read the story twice. Reflect on it. Apply it to your life. You will feel enriched.

· 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.

Teaching stories relate events that are funny, foolish, bemusing, even apparently stupid.

But they usually have much profound and deeper meanings.

A good teaching story has several levels of meaning and interpretation and offer us opportunities to think in new ways.

At first you may just have a good laugh but as you think and reflect, the significance becomes more and more profound.

Each 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.

In this storytelling blog I will try to regale and illuminate you with such gems of wisdom, some of my favorite Teaching Stories - let us have an enlightened laugh together!


VIKRAM KARVE

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

vikramkarve@sify.com

WHAT IS THE MORAL OF THE STORY

What is the Moral of this Story ?

THE GOAT

By

VIKRAM KARVE




I will tell you a story.

You tell me the moral of the story.

Here is the story:

Once there lived a Goat – an ordinary looking goat who lived wild in the mountains.

One day while grazing in the forest, the goat saw a Giraffe, and the goat said to himself, “I wish my neck was as long as the giraffe.”

Lo and Behold! The goat’s neck suddenly became as long as the giraffe’s.

Delighted, that he could now see far and wide, the goat saw an eagle flying high in the sky.

“I wish I had wings like that eagle,” wished the goat; and instantaneously, wings appeared on the goat’s body.

Thrilled, the goat flapped its newly acquired wings, when he suddenly he spotted a tortoise.

The goat admired the beautiful hard shell of the tortoise, and said to himself, “I wish I had a strong hard invincible body like the shell of the tortoise,” and instantly his wish was granted – the goat’s back turned into the shell of a tortoise.

The goat felt ecstatic and impregnable, till he suddenly saw a Cheetah speeding across the horizon running at high speed.

“I wish I had legs like the Cheetah,” the goat wished, and miracle of miracles, the goat’s legs immediately became like the Cheetah.

Now the goat was truly overjoyed, on cloud nine, till he saw the enchanting sight of a beautiful peacock with majestic feathers dancing magnificently.

“I wish I had gorgeous feathers like the peacock,” he wished, and in a jiffy the goat’s wish was granted, and the goat now had dazzling copious plume of colourful feathers.

Adorned with the neck of the giraffe, the wings of the eagle, the shell of the tortoise, the legs of the Cheetah and the feathers of the peacock, the Goat felt jubilant, supreme, regal, on top of the world, and strutted around grandiosely in majestic pride.

A Hunter passing by suddenly saw this unique stunning creature, marvelled for a moment as he couldn’t believe his eyes, he gawked spellbound at the “Goat” for some time, recovered his wits and decided to capture this exotic priceless gem.

So the hunter cast his net, caught the “Goat” and sold this amazing never-seen-before one-of-its-kind exclusive creature at an astronomical price to the zoo.

Large crowds gathered at the zoo, and everyone gaped in awe at this astonishing exotic creature.

The “Goat” spent the rest of its life in captivity, weeping and crying, wondering why even the other goats wandering about freely and unnoticed in the zoo gardens did not recognize him.


I’ve told you the story; now you tell me the moral of the story.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


vikramkarve@sify.com

vikramkarve@sulekha.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

ROI - Return On Investment

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

[An Apocryphal Story]

By

VIKRAM KARVE


Here is an apocryphal story; I heard long back, whose inner meaning had a profound positive effect on me:

On his first visit to India, a rich merchant saw a man selling a small green fruit which he had never seen before. It looked fresh and juicy and the merchant was tempted, and curious, he asked the vendor, “What is this?”

“Mirchi. Chillies, fresh green chillies,” said the hawker.

The merchant held out a gold coin and the vendor was so overjoyed that he gave the merchant the full basket of chillies.

The merchant sat down under a tree and stared to munch the chillies.

Within a few seconds his tongue was on fire, his mouth burning and tears streamed down his cheeks.

But despite this discomfort, the merchant went on eating the chillies, chewing them one by one, scrutinizing each chilli carefully before he put the piquant hot green chilli into his burning mouth.

Seeing his condition, a passerby remarked, “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you stop eating those hot chillies ? ”

“Maybe there is one that is sweet,” the merchant answered, “I keep waiting for the sweet one.”
And the merchant continued eating the chillies.

On his way back, the passerby noticed that the merchant’s condition had become miserable, his face red with agony and copious tears pouring out of his burning eyes.

But the merchant kept on eating the chillies, in his search for the ‘sweet one’.

“Stop at once, or you will die,” the passerby shouted. “There are no sweet chillies ! Haven’t you realized that? Look at the basket – it is almost empty. And have you found even one sweet chilli yet? ”

“I cannot stop until I eat all the chillies. I have to finish the whole basketful,” the merchant croaked in agony, “I have paid for the full basket and I will make sure I get my money’s worth; till I get my full return on investment.”

Dear Reader:

Read this story once more, reflect on it, and apply it to your life.

Don’t we cling on to things that our inner voice tells us we to let go and move on.

We know some things are not good for us and we should let go of these things, but we continue to persist, at first hoping to find ‘sweet one’ and even when we discover that there is no ‘sweet chilli’, we still continue to shackle ourselves to painful people, harmful habits, negative careers and detrimental things just to ‘get our money’s worth’ when we should let go, move on and liberate ourselves and be happy.

Dear Reader. Please do let me know your views.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

vikramkarve@sify.com