THE SEED OF WISDOM
[A Teaching Story]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
[Dear Reader, do read and reflect on this apocryphal tale, a teaching story I heard long back, from one of my teachers, I think]
Once upon a time there was a childless King who wanted to choose a worthy successor to his throne after he passed away.
He called all the young children in his kingdom to his palace one day and said: “It has come time for me to choose the next King. I have decided to choose one of you as my successor, as my Crown Prince, and groom you to be the King after I am gone.”
The amazed children listened spellbound as the King spoke: “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – Just One Seed. It is a very special seed. I want you all to go home, plant the seed, water it, nurture it, and come back here to me exactly one year from today with the plant you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me and whoever grows the best plant will be the Crown Prince, the next King after me.”
There was one small shy boy who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed from the King. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it regularly and nurtured it carefully. Twice every day, in the morning and in the evening, the small shy boy would water the seed lovingly and watch to see if it had germinated and grown.
After a few days, some of the other children began to talk about their seeds and the lovely plants that were beginning to grow, but the small shy boy kept going home and checking his seed, disappointed that nothing was growing from his seed.
Days passed, then weeks, and months, but still there was no sign of a plant growing from the small shy boy’s seed. But the small boy still kept lovingly watering his seed regularly hoping that it would germinate.
By now the others were talking about their wonderful healthy plants but small shy boy didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure, but he kept persevering and nurturing his seed with love and dedication in the optimistic hope that his seed would someday sprout a plant.
Six months went by and there was still no sign of a plant in the small shy boy’s pot.
Everyone else had exquisite tall plants, but he had nothing. Inwardly he feared that maybe he had killed his seed but the small shy boy didn't say anything to his friends and kept on tenderly watering and nurturing his seed with dogged determination and doting devotion in the fond hope that his seed would grow and blossom into a beautiful plant.
Finally, one year passed, and all the children of the kingdom brought their plants to the King for inspection.
The small shy boy was scared and did not want to take his desolate plant-less pot with just the soil and seed to the King, but his mother encouraged him to go, to take his pot with him, and to be honest about everything.
The small shy boy felt fearful and nervous, but he listened to his mother and took his barren pot to the King.
When the small shy boy arrived at the King’s Palace, he was astonished to see the variety of beautiful and exotic plants grown by all the other children.
Totally crestfallen, the small shy boy put his desolate pot on the floor and everyone jeered in derision and mocked him. A few children felt pity for him and tried to console the small shy boy.
Suddenly the King arrived, looked around the hall appraising the plants and showered words of praise to the gathered children: “It is really amazing – you all have really grown fantastic beautiful plants, trees and flowers. I am truly impressed. Today, one of you is going to be selected as the Crown Prince to be the next King!”
The small shy boy shivered with tremors of trepidation and overcome with shame tried to hide in the back.
The King’s eyes searched all over and suddenly he saw the small shy boy at the back of the hall with his barren pot.
The King ordered his guards to bring him in front of the throne.
The small shy boy was terrified. “When the King sees my pot, how badly I have failed in the task he gave me, he is sure to punish me!”
Seeing how frightened the small shy boy was, the King stepped down from his throne, walked down towards the petrified boy, lovingly put his hand on the small shy boy’s shoulders and announced: “This boy is your new King!”
The small shy boy could not believe his ears – it was unbelievable that the King should select a failure and loser like him who couldn’t even sprout his seed be the Crown Prince.
The King escorted the small shy boy to the throne and said to everyone: “One year ago I gave all of you a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But what you did not know is that I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. Except this honest boy, all of you have brought me beautiful plants with exotic flowers and even trees with fruit. When you found out that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. This boy was the only one with the sincerity to nurture the barren seed for one whole year with dedication, hope and perseverance and had the courage and honesty to bring me the desolate pot with my seed in it. Therefore, I select him as my Crown Prince to be the next King!”
Tell me Dear Reader; is this “teaching” story relevant in today’s world?
VIKRAM KARVE
vikramkarve@sify.com
vikramkarve@sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
THE NIGHT TRAIN AT DEOLI AND OTHER STORIES
THE NIGHT TRAIN AT DEOLI
My Favourite Short Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
I love reading short stories. You can read a short story in one sitting and it immediately fills you with an exquisite sense of satisfaction.
I love writing short stories too, and I am sure you have read many of my short stories in my blog.
Dear Reader, let me tell you about my all time favourite short story – The Night Train at Deoli by Ruskin Bond.
The Night Train at Deoli is a beautiful story of unrequited love.
Each one of us has experienced this wonderfully painful emotion of unrequited love.
Dear Reader, I am sure you too have experienced the delightful heart-ache of longing, yearning – an alluring attraction for someone who is out of reach – a one way love – a love unreciprocated.
Well I am quite familiar with the delicate tenderness of unrequited love; in fact, my life story is a story of unrequited loves.
The Night Train at Deoli is narrated in first person by a college boy who travels by the night train from Delhi to Dehra Dun every year to spend his summer vacations at his grandmother’s place. On its journey up the hills of the terai, early in the morning, the train stops at Deoli, a lonely station in the wilderness... “Why it stopped at Deoli. I don’t know. Nothing ever happened. Nobody got off the train and nobody got in…and then the bell would sound, the guard would blow his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten” – isn’t the description brilliant, so breathtaking in its simplicity.
On one such journey the boy sees a girl at Deoli, selling baskets, and is smitten by her… “I sat up awake for the rest of the journey. I could not rid my mind of the picture of the girl’s face and her dark, smouldering eyes”.
He looks out for her on his return journey and is thrilled when he sees her… “I felt an unexpected thrill when I saw her…I sprang off the foot-board and waved to her. When she saw me, she smiled. She was pleased that I remembered her. I was pleased that she remembered me. We were both pleased, and it was almost like a meeting of old friends”…superb writing, isn’t it…simply superb.
It is time for the train to leave, and for the lovers to part… “I felt the impulse to put her on the train there and then…I caught her hand and held it… ‘I have to go to Delhi,’ I said…she nodded, ‘I do not have to go anywhere.’…the guard blew his whistle…and how I hated the guard for doing that…”
Beautifully poignant, marvellously written, touches the very fragile chords of your heart, isn’t it?
I will not tell you the rest of this story, but I can assure you, that if you are a lover at heart, you will be touched with compassion for the protagonist and as the story elevates you to the romantic mood you will relate your very own tale of unrequited love.
Though The Night Train at Deoli is my all time favourite, I like many stories in this anthology, especially, The Woman on Platform 8, His Neighbour’s Wife and Death of a Familiar.
If you are a lover of the fiction short story I am sure you have this delightful book; if you don’t, do get a copy for your bookcase to delve into whenever you are in a blue mood nostalgically yearning for your unrequited love.
[The Night Train at Deoli and other Stories by Ruskin Bond – Book Review by Vikram Karve]
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
My Favourite Short Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
I love reading short stories. You can read a short story in one sitting and it immediately fills you with an exquisite sense of satisfaction.
I love writing short stories too, and I am sure you have read many of my short stories in my blog.
Dear Reader, let me tell you about my all time favourite short story – The Night Train at Deoli by Ruskin Bond.
The Night Train at Deoli is a beautiful story of unrequited love.
Each one of us has experienced this wonderfully painful emotion of unrequited love.
Dear Reader, I am sure you too have experienced the delightful heart-ache of longing, yearning – an alluring attraction for someone who is out of reach – a one way love – a love unreciprocated.
Well I am quite familiar with the delicate tenderness of unrequited love; in fact, my life story is a story of unrequited loves.
The Night Train at Deoli is narrated in first person by a college boy who travels by the night train from Delhi to Dehra Dun every year to spend his summer vacations at his grandmother’s place. On its journey up the hills of the terai, early in the morning, the train stops at Deoli, a lonely station in the wilderness... “Why it stopped at Deoli. I don’t know. Nothing ever happened. Nobody got off the train and nobody got in…and then the bell would sound, the guard would blow his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten” – isn’t the description brilliant, so breathtaking in its simplicity.
On one such journey the boy sees a girl at Deoli, selling baskets, and is smitten by her… “I sat up awake for the rest of the journey. I could not rid my mind of the picture of the girl’s face and her dark, smouldering eyes”.
He looks out for her on his return journey and is thrilled when he sees her… “I felt an unexpected thrill when I saw her…I sprang off the foot-board and waved to her. When she saw me, she smiled. She was pleased that I remembered her. I was pleased that she remembered me. We were both pleased, and it was almost like a meeting of old friends”…superb writing, isn’t it…simply superb.
It is time for the train to leave, and for the lovers to part… “I felt the impulse to put her on the train there and then…I caught her hand and held it… ‘I have to go to Delhi,’ I said…she nodded, ‘I do not have to go anywhere.’…the guard blew his whistle…and how I hated the guard for doing that…”
Beautifully poignant, marvellously written, touches the very fragile chords of your heart, isn’t it?
I will not tell you the rest of this story, but I can assure you, that if you are a lover at heart, you will be touched with compassion for the protagonist and as the story elevates you to the romantic mood you will relate your very own tale of unrequited love.
Though The Night Train at Deoli is my all time favourite, I like many stories in this anthology, especially, The Woman on Platform 8, His Neighbour’s Wife and Death of a Familiar.
If you are a lover of the fiction short story I am sure you have this delightful book; if you don’t, do get a copy for your bookcase to delve into whenever you are in a blue mood nostalgically yearning for your unrequited love.
[The Night Train at Deoli and other Stories by Ruskin Bond – Book Review by Vikram Karve]
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Some More Teaching Stories
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
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
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
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
THE SEED AND THE FRUIT
THE SEED AND THE FRUIT
[A Teaching Story]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
[Dear Reader, do read and reflect on this teaching story I heard long back, told to me by one of my teachers, I think]
Once upon a time there was a childless King who wanted to choose a worthy successor to his throne after he passed away.
He called all the young children in his kingdom to his palace one day and said: “It has come time for me to choose the next King. I have decided to choose one of you as my successor, as my Crown Prince, and groom you to be the King after I am gone.”
The amazed children listened spellbound as the King spoke: “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – Just One Seed. It is a very special seed. I want you all to go home, plant the seed, water it, nurture it, and come back here to me exactly one year from today with the plant you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me and whoever grows the best plant will be the Crown Prince, the next King after me.”
There was one small shy boy who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed from the King. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it regularly and nurtured it carefully. Twice every day, in the morning and in the evening, the small shy boy would water the seed lovingly and watch to see if it had germinated and grown.
After a few days, some of the other children began to talk about their seeds and the lovely plants that were beginning to grow, but the small shy boy kept going home and checking his seed, disappointed that nothing was growing from his seed.
Days passed, then weeks, and months, but still there was no sign of a plant growing from the small shy boy’s seed. But the small boy still kept lovingly watering his seed regularly hoping that it would germinate.
By now the others were talking about their wonderful healthy plants but small shy boy didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure, but he kept persevering and nurturing his seed with love and dedication in the optimistic hope that his seed would someday sprout a plant.
Six months went by and there was still no sign of a plant in the small shy boy’s pot.
Everyone else had exquisite tall plants, but he had nothing. Inwardly he feared that maybe he had killed his seed but the small shy boy didn't say anything to his friends and kept on tenderly watering and nurturing his seed with dogged determination and doting devotion in the fond hope that his seed would grow and blossom into a beautiful plant.
Finally, one year passed, and all the children of the kingdom brought their plants to the King for inspection.
The small shy boy was scared and did not want to take his desolate plant-less pot with just the soil and seed to the King, but his mother encouraged him to go, to take his pot with him, and to be honest about everything.
The small shy boy felt fearful and nervous, but he listened to his mother and took his barren pot to the King.
When the small shy boy arrived at the King’s Palace, he was astonished to see the variety of beautiful and exotic plants grown by all the other children.
Totally crestfallen, the small shy boy put his desolate pot on the floor and everyone jeered in derision and mocked him. A few children felt pity for him and tried to console the small shy boy.
Suddenly the King arrived, looked around the hall appraising the plants and showered words of praise to the gathered children: “It is really amazing – you all have really grown fantastic beautiful plants, trees and flowers. I am truly impressed. Today, one of you is going to be selected as the Crown Prince to be the next King!”
The small shy boy shivered with tremors of trepidation and overcome with shame tried to hide in the back.
The King’s eyes searched all over and suddenly he saw the small shy boy at the back of the hall with his barren pot.
The King ordered his guards to bring him in front of the throne.
The small shy boy was terrified. “When the King sees my pot, how badly I have failed in the task he gave me, he is sure to punish me!”
Seeing how frightened the small shy boy was, the King stepped down from his throne, walked down towards the petrified boy, lovingly put his hand on the small shy boy’s shoulders and announced: “This boy is your new King!”
The small shy boy could not believe his ears – it was unbelievable that the King should select a failure and loser like him who couldn’t even sprout his seed be the Crown Prince.
The King escorted the small shy boy to the throne and said to everyone: “One year ago I gave all of you a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But what you did not know is that I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. Except this honest boy, all of you have brought me beautiful plants with exotic flowers and even trees with fruit. When you found out that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. This boy was the only one with the sincerity to nurture the barren seed for one whole year with dedication, hope and perseverance and had the courage and honesty to bring me the desolate pot with my seed in it. Therefore, I select him as my Crown Prince to be the next King!”
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@hotmail.com
[A Teaching Story]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
[Dear Reader, do read and reflect on this teaching story I heard long back, told to me by one of my teachers, I think]
Once upon a time there was a childless King who wanted to choose a worthy successor to his throne after he passed away.
He called all the young children in his kingdom to his palace one day and said: “It has come time for me to choose the next King. I have decided to choose one of you as my successor, as my Crown Prince, and groom you to be the King after I am gone.”
The amazed children listened spellbound as the King spoke: “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – Just One Seed. It is a very special seed. I want you all to go home, plant the seed, water it, nurture it, and come back here to me exactly one year from today with the plant you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me and whoever grows the best plant will be the Crown Prince, the next King after me.”
There was one small shy boy who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed from the King. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it regularly and nurtured it carefully. Twice every day, in the morning and in the evening, the small shy boy would water the seed lovingly and watch to see if it had germinated and grown.
After a few days, some of the other children began to talk about their seeds and the lovely plants that were beginning to grow, but the small shy boy kept going home and checking his seed, disappointed that nothing was growing from his seed.
Days passed, then weeks, and months, but still there was no sign of a plant growing from the small shy boy’s seed. But the small boy still kept lovingly watering his seed regularly hoping that it would germinate.
By now the others were talking about their wonderful healthy plants but small shy boy didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure, but he kept persevering and nurturing his seed with love and dedication in the optimistic hope that his seed would someday sprout a plant.
Six months went by and there was still no sign of a plant in the small shy boy’s pot.
Everyone else had exquisite tall plants, but he had nothing. Inwardly he feared that maybe he had killed his seed but the small shy boy didn't say anything to his friends and kept on tenderly watering and nurturing his seed with dogged determination and doting devotion in the fond hope that his seed would grow and blossom into a beautiful plant.
Finally, one year passed, and all the children of the kingdom brought their plants to the King for inspection.
The small shy boy was scared and did not want to take his desolate plant-less pot with just the soil and seed to the King, but his mother encouraged him to go, to take his pot with him, and to be honest about everything.
The small shy boy felt fearful and nervous, but he listened to his mother and took his barren pot to the King.
When the small shy boy arrived at the King’s Palace, he was astonished to see the variety of beautiful and exotic plants grown by all the other children.
Totally crestfallen, the small shy boy put his desolate pot on the floor and everyone jeered in derision and mocked him. A few children felt pity for him and tried to console the small shy boy.
Suddenly the King arrived, looked around the hall appraising the plants and showered words of praise to the gathered children: “It is really amazing – you all have really grown fantastic beautiful plants, trees and flowers. I am truly impressed. Today, one of you is going to be selected as the Crown Prince to be the next King!”
The small shy boy shivered with tremors of trepidation and overcome with shame tried to hide in the back.
The King’s eyes searched all over and suddenly he saw the small shy boy at the back of the hall with his barren pot.
The King ordered his guards to bring him in front of the throne.
The small shy boy was terrified. “When the King sees my pot, how badly I have failed in the task he gave me, he is sure to punish me!”
Seeing how frightened the small shy boy was, the King stepped down from his throne, walked down towards the petrified boy, lovingly put his hand on the small shy boy’s shoulders and announced: “This boy is your new King!”
The small shy boy could not believe his ears – it was unbelievable that the King should select a failure and loser like him who couldn’t even sprout his seed be the Crown Prince.
The King escorted the small shy boy to the throne and said to everyone: “One year ago I gave all of you a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But what you did not know is that I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. Except this honest boy, all of you have brought me beautiful plants with exotic flowers and even trees with fruit. When you found out that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. This boy was the only one with the sincerity to nurture the barren seed for one whole year with dedication, hope and perseverance and had the courage and honesty to bring me the desolate pot with my seed in it. Therefore, I select him as my Crown Prince to be the next King!”
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@hotmail.com
Monday, January 5, 2009
Art of Motivation
ART OF MOTIVATION
by
VIKRAM KARVE
A renowned Trainer entered a hall to deliver a lecture on Motivation to the employees of a large industrial organization. To his horror he found that the hall was empty except for a young man seated in the front row.
The Trainer asked him who he was.
“I am a Cook in the Industrial Canteen,” said the young man.
The Trainer, pondering whether to speak or not, asked the Cook, “You are the only one here. Do you think I should speak or not?”
The Cook said to Trainer: “I am a simple man and do not understand these things. But, if I came into the Dining Hall and saw only one man sitting there, I would certainly give him food.”
The Trainer took this to heart and, with full gusto, began to deliver his lecture. He spoke passionately for over two hours.
Immensely proud after his virtuoso performance, he felt highly elated and wanted his audience to confirm how great his lecture had been.
He asked the Cook, “How did you like my lecture?”
The Cook answered: "I told you already that I am a simple man and do not understand these things very well. However, if I came into the dining hall and found only one man sitting there I would feed him, but I wouldn’t make him eat all the food I had prepared in the kitchen".
VIKRAM KARVE
by
VIKRAM KARVE
A renowned Trainer entered a hall to deliver a lecture on Motivation to the employees of a large industrial organization. To his horror he found that the hall was empty except for a young man seated in the front row.
The Trainer asked him who he was.
“I am a Cook in the Industrial Canteen,” said the young man.
The Trainer, pondering whether to speak or not, asked the Cook, “You are the only one here. Do you think I should speak or not?”
The Cook said to Trainer: “I am a simple man and do not understand these things. But, if I came into the Dining Hall and saw only one man sitting there, I would certainly give him food.”
The Trainer took this to heart and, with full gusto, began to deliver his lecture. He spoke passionately for over two hours.
Immensely proud after his virtuoso performance, he felt highly elated and wanted his audience to confirm how great his lecture had been.
He asked the Cook, “How did you like my lecture?”
The Cook answered: "I told you already that I am a simple man and do not understand these things very well. However, if I came into the dining hall and found only one man sitting there I would feed him, but I wouldn’t make him eat all the food I had prepared in the kitchen".
VIKRAM KARVE
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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
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
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