The lady and the monk

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge damaged. They had to wade across the river.

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the same damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to help and carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted.

The little monk was shocked. 'How can big brother carry a lady, when we are not even supposed to stand near the shadow of a female ?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.

When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head.

This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. The big monk had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk.

'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite !

The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'

This Chinese story teaches us a big lesson!

We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and make us angry.

Why?

Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies.

There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.

Helping hands

A mother, wishing to encourage her son's progress at the piano, bought tickets to a performance by the great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski. When the evening arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on the stage. Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away.
At eight o'clock, the lights in the auditorium began to dim, the spotlights came on, and only then did they notice the boy - up on the piano bench, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." His mother gasped in shock and embarassment but, before she could retrieve her son, the master himself appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard.
He whispered gently to the boy, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side and improvised a delightful obligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized with their blended and beautiful music.
In all our lives, we receive helping hands - some we notice, some we don't. Equally we ourselves have countless opportunites to provide helping hands - sometimes we would like our assistance to be noticed, sometimes we don't. Little of what we all achieve is without learning from others and without support from others and what we receive we should hand out.

Enjoy Life

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite –

telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: 'If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.  While it is but normal for you to

want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really

wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.
Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it. Don't let the cups drive you.. Enjoy the coffee instead!

Lessons to learn from this story:

Enjoy life!

The Elephant And The Fly

A disciple and his teacher were walking through the forest. The disciple was disturbed by the fact that his mind was in constant unrest.

He asked his teacher, "Why most people's minds are restless, and only a few possess a calm mind? What can one do to still the mind?"

The teacher looked at the disciple, smiled and said, "I will tell you a story. An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly came again, and the elephant waved it away once more."

This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly, "Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can't you stay for a while in one place?"

The fly answered: "I am attracted to whatever I see, hear or smell. My five senses pull me constantly in all directions and I cannot resist them. What is your secret? How can you stay so calm and still?"

The elephant stopped eating and said, "My five senses do not rule my attention. Whatever I do, I get immersed in it. Now that I am eating, I am completely immersed in eating. In this way I can enjoy my food and chew it better. I rule and control my attention, and not the other way around."

Upon hearing these words, the disciple's eyes opened wide and a smile appeared on his face. He looked at his teacher and said, "I understand! If my five senses are in control of my mind and attention, then my mind is in constant unrest. If I am in charge of my five senses and attention, then my mind becomes calm."
"Yes, that's right", answered the teacher, "The mind is restless and goes wherever the attention is. Control your attention, and you control your mind."

Truth of life

Once a Junior School teacher asked her students to bring some potatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each potato will be given a name of the person whom that child hates. Like this, the number of potatoes will be equal to the number of persons they hate. On a decided day the children brought their potatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had even five

potatoes. The teacher said they have to carry these potatoes with them everywhere they go for a week. As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled smell that started coming from these potatoes.

Also some students who had many potatoes complained that it was very heavy to carry them all around. The children got rid of this assignment after a week, when it got over.

The teacher asked, "How did you feel in this one week?" The children discussed their problems about the smell and weight. Then the teacher said, "This situation is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don't like some people. This hatred makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your heart everywhere you go. If you can not bear the smell

of spoiled potatoes for a week, imagine the impact of this hatred that you carry through out your life, on your heart?"

MORALE:

* OUR HEART IS A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN THAT NEEDS A REGULAR CLEANING OF UNWANTED WEEDS.

* FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEHAVED WITH YOU AS EXPECTED AND FORGET THE BAD THINGS. THIS ALSO MAKES ROOM AVAILABLE FOR STORING GOOD THINGS. .

So you believe in God?

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....  Prof:  So you believe in God?  Student:  Absolutely, sir.  Prof  : Is God good?  Student:  Sure.  Prof:  Is God all-powerful?  Student  : Yes.  Prof:  My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)  Prof:  You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?  Student:  Yes.  Prof:  Is Satan good?  Student  : No.  Prof:  Where does Satan come from?  Student:  From...God.. ..  Prof:  That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?  Student:  Yes.  Prof:  Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?  Student:  Yes.  Prof:  So who created evil? (Student does not answer.)  Prof:  Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?  Student:  Yes, sir.  Prof:  So, who created them? (Student has no answer.)  Prof:  Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?  Student:  No, sir.  Prof:  Tell us if you have ever heard your God?  Student:  No, sir.  Prof:  Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?  Student:  No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't..  Prof:  Yet you still believe in Him?  Student:  Yes.  Prof:  According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?  Student:  Nothing. I only have my faith..  Prof:  Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.  Student:  Professor, is there such a thing as heat?  Prof:  Yes.  Student:  And is there such a thing as cold?  Prof:  Yes.  Student:  No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)  Student  : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.  There is no such thing as cold . Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat . We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy . Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it . (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)  Student:  What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?  Prof:  Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?  Student :  You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?  Prof:  So what is the point you are making, young man?  Student:  Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.  Prof:  Flawed? Can you explain how?  Student:  Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?  Prof:  If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.  Student:  Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)  Student:  Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)  Student:  Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)  Student  : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain,sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable. )  Prof:  I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son..  Student:  That is it sir.... The link between man & god is FAITH . That is all that keeps things moving & alive. NB: I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. ..and if so...you'll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same...won't you?.... this is a true story, and the  student was none other than........ .     Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam , the former president of India  .

Understand the problem first

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet height, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.

 The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. The next day also he said the same and this had become a routine. The bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John, was taking advantage of him.

 Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong.

So, on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!,"

 The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"

 With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass."

 Moral of the story: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."

Spirit of Teamwork

A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn't injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

"Warwick can get you out of that ditch," said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, "Yep, old Warwick can do the job." The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted, "Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!"

And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.

The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, "Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?"

The farmer grinned and said, "Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he's part of a team, he doesn't mind pulling."

At times we are compelled to push harder and see ourselves get out of a troubling problem just by a pull by our own team mates. We are able to strive harder and do the impossible only because we feel motivated and belonged…that's indirectly what a team works to achieve.

Together Efficiently Achieve More! Grow with a motivated team!

The 99 Club

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
 One day the King came upon a Servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much  joy. The King asked the Servant, "Why are you so happy?"

The Servant replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a Roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies." The King was not satisfied with that reply.    
     
  Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted Advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the Servant's story, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."

 "The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.  The Advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is place 99 Gold Coins in a bag and leave it at this Servant's doorstep."  When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many Gold Coins!
 

He began to count them. After several counts, he was at  last convinced that there were 99 Coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last Gold Coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 Coins!"  He looked everywhere he could, but that final Coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that Gold Coin and complete his collection.
 

From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th Gold Coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
  
 Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his Advisor's help, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."
 

He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra "1" telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."

We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.
 

That's what joining the 99 Club is all about. 

Only One Move

A 10-year-old boy Tatsha decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating accident. The boy began lessons with a veteran Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," (Japanese Meaning : Teacher) Tatsha finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.

Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out.

He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances or ourselves for it but we never know that our weaknesses can become our strengths one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!