The Three Bulls

Long ago, in a village, lived a young man. He fell in love with a beautiful young woman. He wanted to marry that woman. So, as was the custom in those days, the young man went to the woman’s father and asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

The woman’s father wanted to test the courage of the young man. The father said, “I will give you my daughter in marriage if you are able to pass in a certain test”. He added, “Come to my farm tomorrow morning. I will release three bulls one after the other. All you have to do is to touch the tail of any one of the bulls. Mind you, you have to touch the tail only. You cannot touch any other part of the bull”. The young man agreed.

The next day, the young man reached the farm. He was waiting at the gate of the farm for the bulls to be released. Soon, the gate of the farm was opened. The young man could see a large black bull was stomping inside. It was huge. It was more like a rhino than a bull. As soon as the black bull started running towards him, he felt nervous and queasy. He thought, “This is a large bull. If I try to touch it, it could kick me hard. I would be make pulp out of me. There are two more bulls to come after this. May be I should try the next one”. And he let the large bull get away.

After some time, the young man could see another red bull stomping inside the farm. It was not as large as the previous black bull. But it had two ferocious horns. The red bull was stomping the ground, raising a little storm, all the while tossing its head all around and jumping up and down. It displayed very aggressive behavior. The young man thought, “This bull is smaller that the previous one. So the next bull will be even smaller. Why to take risk of life. I still have one more chance and I will try it.” Thus, when the bull came running towards him, he let it go.

Finally the third bull came around. It was a white bull. It was built small. It had very small horns and looked very docile. The young man thought “This is my chance and I will catch the tail of this bull”. He positioned himself and got ready to catch the tail. The bull came running slowly towards him. Just as the bull reached near him, the young man stepped forward to catch its tail. But, alas, the white bull had no tail!

Thus, the young man could pass the test and could not marry the woman he wanted to.

In life, many times, we also let go of opportunities. Under various pretext and excuses, we forgo opportunities that life gives us. We say, we will take the next opportunity or the next one. But no one knows, whether the next opportunity will be the right one or not. 

Zero, zilch, nix, nothing!

This is a story that illustrates the difference between the western view of life and the eastern. 

Alexander the great, who was on his dream of conquering the world, reached the banks of river Sindhu. On the opposite side of the river bank, sat a Jina – a Digambar jain- a gymnosophist. He was a enlightened soul, but as a Digambar, he was completely naked. Alexander looked at him and asked, “what are you doing?”. The Jina said, “I am doing nothing”. Alexander heard him and laughed. The Jina asked Alexander, “what are you doing?”. Alexander answered, “I am conquering the world”. The Jina heard his reply and laughed out loud.

Both men were correct. Both men understood the world from their perspective. Both men were evaluating the situation against their own paradigm.

Alexander was brought up in Greece, under the western philosophy of heroism. He believed that man gets only one chance at life. The value of one’s life is all the achievement that one can garner in one lifetime. So, wasting time doing nothing was absolutely ridiculous. Thus he laughed at the Jina, who was doing nothing.

But the Jina was brought up in the eastern philosophy. He believed that this life is just one of the infinite birth that the soul goes through. While the external actions in the life are important, in the perspective of the infinite births that the soul goes through, one birth is insignificant. 1 divided by infinity is Zero, zilch, nix, nothing. He believed that trying to conquer the world was futile, zero, zilch, nix, nothing. He believed that conquering the self was paramount. Conquering the world, zero. Conquering the self - Infinite!

While Alexander and Jina can keep laughing at each other, what is it that you learn from this exchange? 

PS: I heard this story first from Devdutt Pattanaik and have added a bit of my own interpretation as well.

PS. Written for Indispire Edition 141 #zero

The Master Within

In one of the Toastmasters event, we had DTM Nagaraja Rao, a very experienced Toastmaster, who was speaking about mentors and how mentors help in the learning and growth of a mentee. Explaining one point about learning, he spoke about a well known story from Mahabharata, that of Eklavya and Dronacharya.

Eklavya was a tribal boy who wanted to learn archery from Guru Dronacharya.  But Dronacharya had certain limitations and was not able to take Eklavya as his disciple. Eklavya, as the story goes, made a statue of Drona and kept practicing before it. In course of time, he became a very accomplished archer, even better than Arjuna, the favourite disciple of Drona.

Then he asked us a question. How is it possible that Eklavya, who did not learn directly from his guru, learn archery? The audience could not give any satisfactory answer to this question. Finally, Nagaraja said, as per the story, Eklavya used to practice in front of the statue of Drona. Whenever he faced any difficulty in mastering a particular technique, he would come to the statue, present his problem and seek help. Then he would meditate on it and in his meditation, he used to get the answer to his question.

Nagaraja concluded that it is the same for us as well. The guru or master is always within us. We just need to know that, ask the right question and listen intently. Then the answer will come from within. Meditation is the gateway to the region beyond your consciousness

A Bird Story

I love telling stories to Sara. One of her favorite time to listen to stories is while she is in the car with me. This evening, when there was a small errand to be carried out, she insisted me to tell her a story.  This is the story that I belted out.

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There was a small boy who was very truthful. Whatever he said, he used to do that. He always kept his word. The small boy used to get up early every morning. Then, he used to go to the balcony. In the morning, the air would be cold. There would be lot of birds in the balcony. There would be parrots, parakeets, pigeons, sparrows, dove, koel, myna, barbet, kingfisher and many other birds. He used to feed them every day. One day, a very big peacock came to their balcony. The peacock told him in a human voice - “I am hungry, please give me something to eat”. The boy was very surprised. How could a peacock speak in a human voice? He asked the peacock “How can you speak like a human?”

Then the peacock told a story. The peacock said,“

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Long long ago, I used be live in a King's palace. The king was very fond of birds. He had various types of birds. There were parrots, parakeets, pigeons, sparrows, dove, koel, myna, barbet, kingfisher and many other birds. The king kept all the birds in a cage. The birds were not happy to be in the cage. They never sang any songs or played any games. They were always silent.

One day, dark clouds gathered around the palace. There was loud sound of thunder and big lightening. It started to rain. It rained heavily. It rained so heavily that there was water all around. Slowly, with more rain, the water started rising and flood came. The flood water entered the palace. The king was very afraid. He started running here and there. He asked for help. “Help me, please help me..”. But no one knew how to stop the rain.

All of a sudden, an old man with a long white beard appeared. He told the King, “I will stop the rain and will save your palace from being flooded. But you have to make me a promise. You have to release all the birds. You should not keep them in the cage”. The king readily agreed. The old man then took out some magic dust from his pocket, said "Aabra ka dabra...Aabra ka dabra...” and threw the magic dust on the water. Immediately, the rain stopped and the flood water started flowing out. The king was very happy. He kept his promise and released all the birds one by one. All the birds sang their favorite song and flew out happily. But I, the peacock did not fly. I kept sitting there inside the cage.

The king was surprised. All the birds flew out happily but why is the peacock not flying away. He asked the old man for help. The old man then took out some magic dust from his pocket, said “Aabra ka dabra...Aabra ka dabra...” and threw the magic dust on me. Immediately I was able to speak in a human voice.

That is how I am able to speak in a human voice... ”

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The small boy asked the peacock, “so what did you tell the king?”

The peacock continued...“

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My dear king, 200 years ago, when I was a small baby, my family used to live in a big forest. There were tall trees with green leaves. There were many flowers, fruits and berries in the forest and we used to live very happily. My father, mother, brother, sister, aunt, uncle friends everyone lived nearby.  One day, a bird monster came to the forest. He was a big monster with a blue body and red eyes. He had white hairs all over his body and had large arms and legs. He was always hungry. He used to eat birds for breakfast, birds for lunch and birds for dinner. So, he started eating all the birds in the forest one by one. First he ate all the sparrows, then he ate all the parrots and then all the mynas. Then his eyes were on the peacock.

He came to the tree where we lived and started attacking us. I ran away from there. While running, I fell into a creek. The bird-monster ate all other peacocks but it could not find me. Later in the night, I came out of the creek and I have been going here and there all the places hiding from the bird-monster. Finally, I was caught by a hunter and the bird-monster could not catch me. The hunter sold me to you, o king, and that is how, I came to the palace. I am very safe in the palace and I do not want to go out. If I go out the monster will kill me. Please allow me to stay here.

The king was a very nice man. He said, “Peacock - you live in my place without any fear. I will protect you.” That is how I stayed in the palace....”

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The small boy asked, “Then, how come you are out of the palace now? Is the bird-monster not attacking you?” The peacock told another story: “

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One day, when I was playing in the park near the palace, the bird-monster saw me. He came running towards me. As he came the wind blew heavily with the dust and sand was blown everywhere. It made a terrifying noise. I was afraid. I started running towards the palace, shouting; “King O King, please save me from the bird-monster”. Hearing my words, the king came rushing out with his sword. He fought with the bird-monster. The fighting continued day and night, non-stop. They did not eat anything or drink anything. They just kept fighting. They were equally matched. Neither the king could defeat the bird-monster, nor could the bird-monster defeat the king. After 21 days of fighting, the monster became very weak. He could not lift his sword anymore. The king saw this as a chance. He lifted his sword high and tore the belly of the bird-monster. The bird-monster gave a terrifying scream and died.

I came out of the palace, thanked the king very much as he had kept his word. Then I flew away. From that day, I am flying from one place to another in search of persons who keep their word. That is how I came to your place. I know you are a very good boy who keeps his promises. That is why I have come to you....”

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The small boy gave the peacock some food to eat and asked, “Tell me what do you want from me?” The peacock said, “I want you to promise me that you will look after all the birds and animals and will not hurt them ever”. The little boy promised that he would. The peacock gave the little boy one of his feather as a gift and flew away happily.

How do you define success

A new disciple of a Zen Master asked "Master, how do you define success?"

The Zen Master replied, "Go to the village cobbler and spend a month with him".

The disciple went to the village cobbler and told him about his conversation with his master. The cobbler nodded and allowed the disciple to stay in his house. The young disciple saw that the cobbler would wake up exactly at day-break, get ready for work, have breakfast and go for work. The disciple followed him to work. There he conducted his business honestly, no matter if there were many customers or few. With whatever earning of the day, he would get provisions for his family. The evening he would spend with his family and friends and retire in the night.  The same pattern continued the next day. The cobbler did exactly the same things at the same time. The disciple was surprised. Every day, the cobbler went about his daily life in exactly the same way, and the disciple was amazed at the consistency of his routine. He could not understand why the cobbler was doing things exactly the same way at the same time daily. And what relation has this to do with the question he asked his Master.

He also observed that the cobbler did not earn much. There were days when he could not buy any provisions at all for his family. Those days, the family had to do with whatever crumbs and scraps were available. But the cobbler, nonetheless, was a very happy and contented man.

On the last day the disciple asked the cobbler, "Tell me, I have seen you doing exactly the same things every day for the entire month; your life is just like a clock. Why is it so? "

The cobbler said, “Yes, my daily life is planned that way. I love to follow a routine. Each night, I set myself a goal on what I would do the other day and try to do those things within that time. But, there are days when intentionally or otherwise my routine breaks"

The disciple asked, “But why do you do that?” The Cobbler said “I just like it that way”.

The disciple was even more confused. How can someone "like" a boring routine?

He remembered his question to his Master and asked the cobbler "Do you know what success is?"

The cobbler replied "I am a lay man. I have never studied any text books or scriptures. Neither have I had the chance to listen to any discourses or speeches. I do not know what success is. But what I do know is if I am able to follow my routine and go to work every single day; I feel happy. May be that is success. Those days, that I am not able to go to work, I feel bad. Now, you know, my work is not very interesting. But I have set a goal to myself to be consistent in opening the shop, waiting for customers and closing the shop at a particular time and then carry on with my other activities. If I am able to do that, I feel I have achieved something. May be that is success"

The disciple came back to the Master and told, "Master, I think I now know something of what success is. It has to do with setting a goal and reaching the same. But is that all there is to it?"

"Well", the Zen Master replied, "Go to the cow-shed and take care of the cows for a month".

The disciple was astonished. What could he learn about his quest from the cows? Also, the work at the cowshed is very strenuous.  No one was interested to work there as it was seen by others as a lowly work. It was considered a punishment to work there.  Nevertheless he decided to go there.

He set a goal for himself that he will keep the cowshed as clean as possible.

He diligently did his work. Every day, he would get up in the morning, draw water from the well and fill the tank. Then he would provide water to all the cows and calves.  After that he leave them in the fields for grazing. Before they came back, he would draw more water and clean the cowshed thoroughly. By the time the herd was back in the evening, the cowshed would be clean.

It was not a very inspiring job. He managed to do it the first day. But, he failed to clean the shed in the next day. Again he pulled himself up. After a week of cleaning and failing to clean, he learnt something. He felt bad if he did not do clean it any day. But if he was able to clean it, he felt good. By end of second week, he was quite consistent. The results showed up.  He felt happy as he was able to reach his goals. Now he committed that he will do his daily shed cleaning every single day for the rest of the month.

One day some folks from his village met him while he was herding the cows. They said "Look at you. You came from the village to become a monk. But is this what you are doing now? Herding the cows and cleaning the cowshed?" Couldn’t you get any better job at the monastery? What an utter failure" The young disciple did get perturbed. But he maintained his composure, smiled at them and enquired about others in the village before bidding good-bye.

Every night, he thought about the incident. He knew he had a goal that he has set for himself. And he was happy on his being able to achieve his goals of keeping the cowshed spic and span.  But others thought he was a failure. It was then that he realized, only the person who is working on the goals knows whether he is a success or not. It is very personal. It differs from person to person. It is not appropriate for others to comment on it.

After the month was over, he went back to the master and narrated the major incidents and what he had learnt. He said "Master, success is quite personal. It doesn’t depend on what others feel, think or say".

Master nodded and asked “Are the cows successful?"

Disciple said, "Cows take life as it comes. They do not spend time in thinking, but do naturally whatever needs to be done at that moment. They eat when hungry and drink when thirsty. I do not even have a yard stick with which to measure if they are successful of not. Howver, they seem to be happy with whatever they are doing."

Master asked, "What about your village friends?"

The disciple said, “Master, between the two extremes - life with a purposeful goal like that of the cobbler, and life without an explicit goal like that of a cow - there are many shades and variations. There are those who have goals, but hardly work towards it. Then, there are others who do not really have a goal, but rather have some pipe dream or wishes; and they think that they have a goal. Some are Zen like and have a goal of not having a goal. So, I am not in a position to tell if they are successful or not. It is for them to decide.

The Master smiled peacefully and then asked “How do YOU define success?”

A chat in a mall

A man was walking in a mall. He went up to a beautiful woman and said, "Hello, could you talk to me for a few minutes?". The woman was taken aback. She said, "Excuse me, why would I talk to you just like that?". He said, "Well, my wife is lost and it will take an hour for me to find her in this mall. But if you talk to me for a few minutes, she will find me immediately!"

This is a story which I heard from a guy called the nice Osama on youtube.

Ham and Eggs

A Pig and a Chicken met at a bar. They became very good friends over a few drinks. Over a glass of beer they would discuss many things about life, work and love. One day, the Chicken proposed to the Pig, "Why dont we strike out on our own?". "Thats a good idea", said the Pig. They debated over what could they come up with. They were smitten by the entreprenuership bug. After a few more evenings, they decided, they would open a restaurant. They started searching for a name for their start-up. The Chicken proposed, "Why don't we name it Ham & Eggs?". Both were quite satisfied with the name and left for the night.

The next evening, the Pig came to the bar, very sad and disheartened. The Chicken was in his jovial mood. When the Chicken asked the Pig what was the reason for his mood, the Pig said, "See, in our project, you are just involved. But I am committed". The Chicken could not understand, so he demanded an explanation. The Pig said, "Look, for the eggs, you will come, lay an egg, cackle and make a hue and cry about it and leave. But I will have to give my life to get the Ham".

Well, it may so happen that in your projects, you will have Chickens and Pigs - people who are just involved and people who are committed. What type of people do you want to be in the projects?

Ego in Check

In a small village in India, lived a pundit. A pundit is a brahmin, who is learned in various religious texts and earns his living by teaching religous texts and giving discourses to anyone who is interested. He was a very simple fellow. He used to go out every day to nearby villages to give discourses. His family comprised of his wife , a pious lady and a son, a student at the village school.

Every evening, the pundit would pass the village chowk, while returning to his home. At the chowk, the village chief who would be sitting with his band of followers, making mockery of people who pass that way. The pundit would give them a smile and walk on his way. One day, as he was returning home, the village chief told him, "You may be a pundit, but your son does not know value of anything!". As usual, the pundit did not care, gave his usual smile and walked away. This became a daily routine. The chief and his band, would make fun of the pundit every day.

One evening, the pundit decided that he would ask his son why they were saying so. So, he went home and told his son whatever he was hearing. The son gave him a smile and said, "Every day, when I return from school, the village chief shows me 2 coins - a gold and a silver one, and he asks me to take one. Each time, I take the silver coin". Then the chief becomes very happy and tells everyone around,  " Look, didnt I tell you so. The pundit's son is a fool. He does not know what is valuable...and every day, the same game continues".

The pundit asked him, why did he not pick up the gold coin? The son took him to his room. He opened a box, showed him many silver coins and said "If I ever pick up a Gold coin, the game will stop. As long as I keep the chief happy by proving him right, even though it means I have to subdue my ego, I will keep earning the silver coin for as long as the game continues".

Well, it may so happen that in your daily life, you may face many similar situations. As long as you keep your ego subdued, and keep the other person happy, you can keep minting the silver!