After a performance in the court, King Akbar told Tansen that he was the best singer.  Tansen thanked the king but corrected him humbly by saying that there was someone who could sing better than him, his Guru. On hearing this Akbar was delighted to hear Guru sing. But Tansen made it clear that his Guru would not come to the court & he does not sing for earthly rewards.

King Akbar & Tansen started off to Guru’s  residence, a case on the hills. At dawn, Guru went to the river, bathed & started singing in his melodious voice. The whole surrounding was immersed in his voice. While returning Akbar asked Tansen, “There was some magic in his voice that’s incomplete in yours. What makes his voice so different? Tansen replied, “Huzoor, I sing for thee, but he sings for divine.”

Tansen sang with an intention to satisfy the king & win earthly reward whereas Guru sang for his own satisfaction, with full involvement & found more happiness in it.

Once a sage was passing through a village. He saw men working in the scratching sun, seemed like Mother nature was being cruel to them. They were carrying heavy stones.  He approached one of the worker & asked, ”What are you doing ?“ He replied angrily, ”Can’t you see what am I doing?”. He asked another person “What is being constructed?” He answered,“ I don’t know I have nothing to do with it.  I get my pay at the end of the day then why bother.”

The sage continued. On enquiring with another worker he knew a temple was being build. Further he“Why are you so happy?” asked the sage. “I heard a temple in being constructed here.  I wanted to help. It is a rare opportunity one gets in ones life.  No other work can make me happier.” did not find a man who was working happily in the hot sun

In this story we come across four people who thought differently. The first one is working due to compulsion & is not at all happy to work, second, with an aim of earring, third was partly involved in his work, fourth working happily.

If we do something on our own without any compulsion we do it better. It’s something we do for our satisfaction & not to satisfy others. Even if it is a small thing we did, we will be able to find greater happiness & beauty in it.

Slavery existed in America when Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President. A debate to bring an end to slavery was going on. In northern states, public supported this view. Industrial development was taking place & they needed free mobility of labor. On the other hand, in southern status agriculture was the main occupation & the number of slaves one had, determined ones power.
Government started taking necessary steps to eradicate slavery. In South, masters started selling their slaves to different places. Once a child of a slave was left behind, he was not grown enough to start working. A woman started looking after him. After 2-3 years his mistress put him in charge of the garden. Very soon he turned out to be an expert in the assigned work. By seeing his interest to know things and ability to grasp quickly his mistress decided to educate him. He was sent to a nearby school. He passed out with highest marks in the district.

For his high school studies, he was sent to town. To meet his necessities he worked in a laundry. He would spend his night in a farm on the outskirts since he had no place to live in the town & would return before dawn.  After a year or two the owner of the farm discovered it. But he let the boy continue because his stay had put an end to the robbery that had been taking place. He struggled hard to cross the hurdles whites created for him. It is hard to swim against the current.

He passed his high school with flying colors & wanted to continue his studies. It was sure he would not be admitted in a college in southern states. So he moved north & got admitted in a government college. He had to live in hostel and to meet his expenses he started laundering. He completed his post graduation & went for Ph.D.

After completion of his studies, Government offered him a job. He started a research and invented many things. One of them was, he made seventy-six substances out of groundnut grain. Later, a university was found in his name.

 ” Success comes from knowing that you did your best to

become the best that you are capable of becoming“.

Continue reading Journey to Success →

With enthusiasm of a child waiting for his Grandpa to start with the story, we waited for Doshi Sir to start.  The narration of the story in a rhythmic style and popping eyes with eagerness filled the classroom with an atmosphere of suspense.

The story was about a kingdom,

 

Fate of the kings who ruled it & its subject.  A king lost his throne because he did not look after the welfare of his subjects.  Death was the punishment they gave their king.  He was tied up & put in a boat with the instruction to the rower to leave him in the forest on the other side of the river.

Since then in this kingdom, there was need for a king.  They decided to select a king amongst themselves on a condition that the king may have his powers for five years but on the last day of the fifth year he would be tied up & sent to the forest. Thereafter whoever became the king tried to hide themselves to escape the punishment at the end of five years.  Unfortunately they never succeed.

 

Similar such a day arrived. The day to send the king to the forest arrived.  As usual the subject went searching for the king throughout the kingdom.  Unable to find him they returned to the palace.  They were surprised to see the king seated on his throne & waiting for them.  He had only one desire, his journey to the forest must be in a royal manner.  In astonishment they arranged for it ‘How can a man welcome death so happily?” was the thought that disturbed them.

On their way to the forest, the rower asked the king, “How can you be so happy when your end is near?” The king smiled and answered, “I am not facing death now, I am in the joy of being welcomed as a king.  When I was crowned as the king. I knew what would happen.  So within five years of my rule I got a part of the forest cleared and set up a kingdom there.  Now I have my own kingdom & my subject is waiting for me.”

The five years in college is the time in our lives where we live as kings but latter loose everything if we have not set our lives.

Till now we have been travelling through a tunnel, a tunnel where comfort was the darkness that surrounded us.  There is a world beyond it, shining in light & filled with opportunities.  At the same time, like the wild animals in the forest there are dangers which are invisible even in daylight.

So let us be wise & follow the example of the king who setup a kingdom for himself. Let us set up our lives for the future, identify our goals in life and prepare ourselves for it.

‘Time & Tide waits for none’  Time that is gone can never be brought back or stood.  Our daily activities are mainly of 4 types.  Crises – Important & urgent, Planning – important but not urgent & entertainment – not important & urgent.

Entertainment is important for mental relaxation but the time allotted to it should be limited.  Delegation is work that you can get it done from others.  Planning is needed to conduct things smoothly.  If there is no proper planning, task entrusted to you may not be completed on time & it turns into crises. When time falls short of this stage, the time we allocate to entertainment is utilized here.  If this continues for a longer time it can lead to mental disorder. Value of time cannot be determined.

 

Once a fisherman went to a river in a forest, for fishing.  After trying for several times he did not get anything.  It was turning dark & he decided to stay back.  After every few minutes he castled his net into the river.  After several try he felt something caught in his net.  It was heavy.  After pulling the net he found a bag full of stones.  He was annoyed.  To pass his time he started throwing the stones into the river one-by-one.  It was dawn. In the mild sunlight he realized that what he thought was mere stones were precious stones. The bag was half empty by now.  He would do nothing but only regret.  He could not get back what was lost.

Time is like these precious stones which we ourselves waste without knowing the value & when we realize its value very little of it is left with us.  We have limited time & much work to do ‘At last its not the years in life but life in years that count.’

 ” LOST TIME IS NEVER FOUND AGAIN “

To hit the target of your life you must have firm determination & work hard.  If you keep on changing your target you will never be able to achieve any one from the ones you have decided.

In a small village there lived a boy who was sad because his Mom had not prepared cake for Christmas.  They were poor & could not afford it.  His Mom said that they were poor because his Dad never thought of becoming rich.  By hearing this he made up his mind to become a rich man, the world’s richest man & he did.  It started with a small boy’s desire of having a cake but ended up in making him a richest man – Bill Gates.

 ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’

With firm determination & hard work, you are surely going to achieve your goal.