The rain gods had been smiling the whole night. The roads were muddy and the
potholes were filled to the brim. It was the day for the market and Raju the farmer
was riding his cart along the country road. He had to reach the market early so
that he can sell his hay. It was very difficult for the horses to drag the load through
the deep mud. On his journey suddenly the wheels of the horse cart sank into the
mire.
The more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheel sank. Raju climbed down from
his seat and stood beside his cart. He searched all around but could not find
anyone around to help him. Cursing his bad luck, he looked dejected and
defeated. He didn’t make the slightest effort to get down on the wheel and lift it up
by himself. Instead, he started cursing his luck for what happened. Looking up at
the sky, he started shouting at God, “I am so unlucky! Why has this happened to
me? Oh God, come down to help me.”
After a long wait, God finally appeared before Raju. He asked Raju, “Do you think
you can move the chariot by simply looking at it and whining about it? Nobody will
help you unless you make some effort to help yourself. Did you try to get the
wheel out of the pothole by yourself? Get up and put your shoulder to wheel and
you will soon find the way out.”
Raju was ashamed of himself. He bent down and put his shoulder to the wheel
and urged on the horses. In no time the wheel was out of the mire. Raju learned
his lesson. He thanked God and carried on his journey happily.
Moral: God helps those who help themselves.

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for
hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal
was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway-it just wasn’t worth it to
retrieve the donkey.
He invited all of his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a
shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was
happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was
astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey
was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer’s neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would
shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the
well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles are stepping stones.
We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it
off, and take a step up.

A young man asked socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man
to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young
man to walk with him towards the river. When the water got up to their neck,
Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy
struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy
started turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing
the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked,
‘What did you want the most when you were there?” The boy replied, “Air.”
Socrates said, “That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as
you wanted the air, then you will get it.” There is no other secret.
Moral
A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a small fire
cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results.

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.
She started screaming out of fear.
With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her
hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but… it landed on another
lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach
next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the
cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his
fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked
up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their
histrionic behaviour?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection,
without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance
caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that
disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their
shouting that disturbs me.
It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the
disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my
life

Once upon a time, there was a very lazy man who would always look for an easier
way to feed himself. One day while he was searching for something to eat, he saw
the fruit farm. He looked around and didn’t see anyone guarding the fruits on the tree,
so he quickly decided to steal some fruits. But as soon as he walked into the farm
and started to climb the tree, the farmer saw him and started coming at him to catch
him. The lazy man saw the farmer coming at him with a stick, he got afraid and ran
towards the forest nearby and went inside it to hide.
After some time when he felt he started to move on from the forest and while passing
through, he saw the wonderful scene. There was a fox. It had only two legs and still
was crawling on them happily. The lazy man thought, how can this fox stay alive in
such condition?! The fox can’t run, how he must be able to feed himself or stay alive
from the threat of other animals.
Suddenly, he saw the lion coming towards the fox with a piece of meat already in his
mouth. All the animals ran away and the lazy man climbed up on the tree to save
himself but, the fox stayed there only, he didn’t have the ability to run on two legs. But
what happened next surprised the lazy man. The lion left a piece of meat which was
in his mouth for the fox!
The lazy man felt happy seeing god’s play. He thought the god who is the creator of
all, always has a plan set to take care of what he created. He felt that god must have
something planned for him too. So, he left that place and sat somewhere away alone
waiting for someone to feed him too. As time starting to pass, he kept looking at the
road, waiting for his food. He waited there for 2 days without any food! Finally, he
couldn’t bear the hunger and started to leave.
He met an old sage (a wise person famed for wisdom) on the way. He told everything
happened to the sage. The sage first gave him some food and water. After having it,
the lazy man asked the sage, “oh wise one, the god had shown his mercy on the
crippled fox, but why the god was so cruel to me?”
The old sage with a smile said, “True that the creator has a plan for everyone. You
are obviously a part of the god’s plan. But Son, You took his sign in a wrong way. He
didn’t want you to be like the fox. He wanted you to be like the Lion”.
Moral: Often we misunderstand the signs. God has given everyone a strength and
ability to do their part. Always learn to see the things in a positive way and see
yourself in a strong position to help the ones who need. Don’t go for the easy choice.
Make a right choice.

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The
girl had some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he will give her all his
marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed.
The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to
the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.
That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn’t sleep as he kept
wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his
best marble.
Moral of the story: If you don’t give your hundred percent in a relationship, you’ll
always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent. This
is applicable for any relationship like love, friendship, employer-employee
relationship etc., Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep
peacefully.

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery.
He answered the call ASAP, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery
block. He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor.
On seeing him, the father yelled, “Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t
you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have any sense of
responsibility?”
The doctor smiled and said, “I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital and I came as fast
as I could after receiving the call and now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do
my work”.
“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down?
If your own son dies while waiting for the doctor than what will you do??” said the
father angrily. The doctor smiled again and replied, “We will do our best by God’s
grace and you should also pray for your son’s healthy life”.
“Giving advises when we’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.
The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy, “Thank
goodness! your son is saved!” And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried
on his way running by saying, “If you have any questions, ask the nurse”.
“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait some minutes so that I ask about my
son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor
left. The nurse answered, tears coming down her face, “His son died yesterday in
a road accident, he was at the funeral when we called him for your son’s surgery.
And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s funeral.”
Moral: Never judge anyone because you never know how their life is and what
they’re going through.

One day King came to his garden and saw withering and dying trees, bushes and
flowers.
An oak said it dies because it can’t be as high as a pine.
A pine tree was falling down because it could not give grapes like a grapevine.
Meanwhile the grapevine was dying because it couldn’t blossom like a rose.
But soon the King found a single plant, pleasing heart, bloomy and fresh.
The king asked:
-All the trees and flowers here are withering, and you are flourishing, why?
– I think it comes naturally. You have planted me, because it was Your wish and
Your choice. If you would like to grow an oak, grapes or rose, you would plant
them. And I cannot be anything else than what I am. So I try to develop my best
qualities.
Look at yourself. You can be only yourself. It is impossible for you to
become someone else. You can enjoy life and blossom or you can wither if
you do not accept yourself.