Cycle of Evil

There was once a king who was so cruel and unjust that his subjects yearned
for his death or dethronement.
However, one day he surprised them all by announcing that he had decided to
turn over a new leaf.
"No more cruelty, no more injustice," he promised, and he was as good as his
word. He became known as the 'Gentle Monarch'.
Months after his transformation one of his ministers plucked up enough
courage to ask him what had brought about his change of heart, and the king
answered:
"As I was galloping through my forests I caught sight of a fox being chased by a
hound. The fox escaped into his hole but not before the hound had bitten into
its leg and lamed it for life. Later I rode into a village and saw the same hound
there. It was barking at a man. Even as I watched, the man picked up a huge
stone and flung it at the dog, breaking its leg. The man had not gone far when
he was kicked by a horse. His knee was shattered and he fell to the ground,
disabled for life. The horse began to run but it fell into a hole and broke its leg.
Reflecting on all that had happened, I thought: 'Evil begets evil. If I continue in
my evil ways, I will surely be overtaken by evil'. So I decided to change".
The minister went away convinced that the time was ripe to overthrow the king
and seize the throne. Immersed in thought, he did not see the steps in front of
him and fell, breaking his neck.

Saint and Sinner

Maharsi Arjuna was guru of a monastery in India. The monastery had a large
collection of books, one among them being a rare volume, worth a fortune.
One day a visiting monk chanced upon the book and succumbing to temptation
walked away with it. The theft was discovered the same day and it was not
hard to guess who the culprit was but Maharsi Arjuna refused to send anyone
after the monk for fear that he might say he had not taken it and add the sin of
perjury to that of theft.
The monk meanwhile was trying to sell the book and eventually found a buyer,
a rich man who asked him to leave the book with him for a day so that he could
get it evaluated.
When the monk had gone, the man hastened to the monastery and showed the
book to Maharsi Arjuna. The guru recognized it instantly but did not say
anything.
"A monk wants to sell it to me," said his visitor. "He's asking for a gold
sovereign. You are knowledgeable about books. Is this book worth that much?"
"It's worth much much more than a sovereign," said the guru. "It's a valuable
book."
The man thanked the guru and left. The next day when the monk came, he
informed him that he would like to buy the book and was prepared to pay the
price he had mentioned. The monk was overjoyed.
"Whom did you show it to?" he asked.
"Maharsi Arjuna, the guru."
His visitor turned pale. "A-And what did he say?"
"He said the book was worth a sovereign."
"And what else?"
"Nothing."
The monk was both amazed and touched. He realized that the guru had
refused to reclaim his lost treasure so that he, the thief would not get into
trouble. Nobody had ever shown him such love; nobody had ever behaved so
nobly towards him.
"I've changed my mind, I don't want to sell it," he said and took the book from
the man.
"I'll give you two sovereigns," said the customer.
The monk walked away without answering. He went directly to the monastery
and handed the book to the guru, tears brimming in his eyes.
"Keep it," said Maharsi Arjuna. "When I learnt you had borrowed it I decided to
give it to you."
"Please take it back," pleaded the monk, "but let me stay here and learn
wisdom from you."
His wish was granted. He spent the rest of his years in the monastery
modelling his life after that of the saintly Maharsi Arjuna.
Headstrong Companion
Once upon a time there lived a Bharunda, a bird with two heads. One day it
found a strange fruit on the seashore. It picked it up and started eating it. The
head that was feeding, exclaimed, "Many a sweet fruit tossed by the sea have I
eaten, but this beats them all! Is it the fruit of a sandalwood tree or that of the
divine parijata?"
Hearing this, the other head asked to taste the fruit, but the first head refused,
saying, "We have a common stomach, so there's no need for you to eat it too.
I'll give it to our sweetheart, the Bharundi," and with that, it tossed the half-
eaten fruit to the female.
From that day on, the second head carried a grudge against the first and
waited for an opportunity to take revenge. One day it found a poison fruit.
Picking up the fruit, it said to the first head, "You selfish wretch! See, here's a
poison fruit and I'm going to eat it!"
"Don't do that, you fool!" shrieked the first head, "you'll kill us both!"
But the second head would not listen. It consumed the poison and soon the
two-headed bird was dead.

Moment of Truth
There was a young student-archer who reached such proficiency in his art that
he could shoot an arrow into a tree and then cleave that arrow into two with
the next shot. He began to boast that he was a greater archer than his guru.
One day his guru, a venerable old man in his 70's, asked the youth to
accompany him on a trip across the hills. The journey was uneventful until they
came to a deep chasm.
A single log spanned the chasm. The guru walked down to the centre of the log,
unshouldered his bow and taking an arrow shot it into a tree on the other side.
His next shot cleaved the first arrow into two.
"Now it's your turn," he said, walking back to where his student was standing.
The youth stepped gingerly on the log and very slowly and carefully made his
way to the middle. But his heart was in his mouth. He knew that if he lost his
footing, he would plunge to his death. His hands trembled as he strung an
arrow into his bow. Preoccupied with the danger he was in, he found it hard to
focus on the target. Consequently when he let go of the arrow, it missed the
tree altogether. Whimpering, he turned around.
"Help me!" he shouted to his guru. "I'll fall!"
The old man walked up to him, took his hand and stepping backwards led him
to safety. Neither of them said a word on the return journey but the boy had
much to think about. He had realised that to be a master of his art it was not
enough to know how to control the bow, he had to learn how to control his
mind too.

The Three Dolls

A sage presented a prince with a set of three small dolls. The prince was not
amused.
"Am I a girl that you give me dolls?" he asked.
"This is a gift for a future king," said the man. "If you look carefully, you'll see a
hole in the ear of each doll."
"So?"
The sage handed him a piece of string.
"Pass it through each doll," he said.
Intrigued, the prince picked up the first doll and put the string into the ear.
It came out from the other ear.
"This is one type of person," said the man. "Whatever you tell him, comes out
from the other ear. He doesn't retain anything."
The prince put the string into the second doll. It came out from the mouth.
"This is the second type of person," said the man. "Whatever you tell him, he
tells everybody else."
The prince picked up the third doll and repeated the process. The string did not
reappear from anywhere else.
"This is the third type of person," said the man. "Whatever you tell him is
locked up within him. It never comes out."
"What is the best type of person?" asked the prince.
The man handed him a fourth doll, in answer.
When the prince put the string into the doll, it came out from the other ear.
"Do it again," said the sage. The prince repeated the process. This time the
string came out from the mouth. When he put the string in a third time, it did
not come out at all.
"This is the best type of person," said the sage. "To be trustworthy, a man must
know when not to listen, when to remain silent and when to speak out."

Crooked Howler
A thief hired a room at an inn and stayed there at night. The next morning
when he looked out of his window he saw the owner of the inn sitting in the
courtyard. The man was wearing an expensive new coat which the thief
decided would look good on himself.
Accordingly he went out and sitting beside the innkeeper, struck up a
conversation with him. Presently he yawned and then to the innkeeper's
astonishment, howled like a wolf.
"Why did you do that?" asked the innkeeper.
"I have no control over it," said the thief. "If I yawn three times I actually turn
into a wolf. Please don't leave me. I'm frightened!" And with that he yawned
again and let out another howl. The innkeeper turned pale and got up to go but
the thief caught hold of his coat and begged him to stay. Even as he pleaded,
he yawned again. The terrified innkeeper wriggled out of the coat to which the
thief was tightly holding on and ran into the inn and locked himself in. The thief
calmly put on the coat and walked away.
Moral: Don't believe every tale you hear.

The Miserly Beggar

The king was to pass by a beggar's hut and the man was beside himself with
excitement, not because he was about to see the king but because the king
was known to part with expensive jewels and huge sums of money when
moved by compassion.
He saw the king's chariot just as a kindly man was filling his begging bowl with
uncooked rice. Pushing the man aside, he ran into the street, shouting praises
of the king and the royal family.
The chariot stopped and the king beckoned to the beggar.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"One of the most unfortunate of your subjects," said the beggar. "Poverty sits
on my doorstep and follows me about like a dog. I haven't eaten since
yesterday afternoon!"
"Have you nothing for your king except a tale of woe?" said the ruler, putting
out his hand. "Give me something."
The beggar, astonished, carefully picked up 5 grains of rice from his bowl and
laid them on the king's outstretched palm.
The king drove away. The beggar's disappointment was great. He raved and
ranted and cursed the king again and again for his miserliness. Finally, his
anger spent, he went on his rounds.
When he returned home in the evening he found a bag of rice on the floor.
"Some generous soul has been here," he thought and took out a handful of rice
from the bag. To his astonishment there was a small piece of gold in it. He
realised then that the bag had been sent by the king. He emptied the rice on
the floor, feeling sure there would be more gold pieces in it, and he was right.
He found 5, one for each grain of rice he had given the king.
"It is not the king who has been miserly," thought the man, sadly. "If I had been
generous and given him the whole bowl of rice, I would have been a rich man
today."

Cows And Cucumbers

Gopal Bhar lived next door to a poor couple who had a habit of day-dreaming.
One day the husband said to his wife: "If I had some money I would buy a few
cows."
"Then we would have a lot of milk," said his wife. "I could make plenty of butter
and ghee and we could send some milk to my sister too."
"Send milk to your sister!" exclaimed her husband. "How dare you suggest
such a thing!"
"But we would have milk to spare," said his wife.
"We'll sell it!" said her husband. "I don't want any more talk on the subject and
to make sure you don't carry milk to her when I'm away, I'm going to break
every pot in the house!" And picking up the four or five pots they had, smashed
them on the floor.
Gopal Bhar who was passing by at that time, asked him why he was breaking
the pots and when he learnt the reason picked up a stick and started beating
the air with it.
"What are you doing?!" asked his neighbour, puzzled.
"Driving away your cows!" said Gopal. "They've eaten the cucumbers in my
garden."
"Eaten you cucumbers!" exclaimed the other man, indignantly. "But you don't
even have a garden!"
"I'm going to have one soon," said Gopal, "and I'm going to grow cucumbers in
it," and he began hitting out with the stick again.
The neighbours finally realised that Bhar was trying to show them how foolish it
was to live in a world of make-believe and felt ashamed of themselves.

The Wise Old Man

A wealthy man requested an old scholar to wean his son away from his bad
habits.
The scholar took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly he
asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there. The youth held the plant
between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The old man then asked
him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant
came out, roots and all.
"Now pull out that one," said the old man pointing to a bush. The boy had to
use all his strength to pull it out.
"Now take this one out," said the old man, indicating a guava tree. The youth
grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge.
It's impossible," said the boy, panting with the effort.
"So it is with bad habits," said the sage. "When they are young it is easy to pull
them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted."
The session with the old man changed the boy's life.

An Ascetic Returns Home

A young ascetic sitting in meditation under a tree was splattered by the
droppings of a bird.
He looked up angrily at the culprit and such was the intensity of his wrath that
the bird was reduced to ash.
His concentration disturbed, the ascetic got up and went in search of food. He
knocked at the door of a house but there was no answer. He knocked again and
the lady of the house shouted that she was coming. Presently she came out
with food and seeing that he was annoyed at having had to wait so long, smiled
and said: "Please don't try to burn me with your angry glance like you did that
bird. My dharma as a housewife is first to take care of the needs of my family
before attending to the needs of others."
The ascetic realised that she was no ordinary woman and was ashamed of
himself. He asked her to teach him what dharma was. She said he should see
Dharma Vyadha.
The ascetic went in search of Dharma Vyadha expecting to find a venerable
sage but the man turned out to be a meatseller.
Dharma Vyadha made him wait while he served his customers. When the
ascetic showed signs of impatience, the meatseller smiled and said: "Just as
the woman's first duty was to her family, my first duty is to my customers."
So the ascetic waited. When the last of his customers had gone, the meatseller
turned to the ascetic and invited him home.
When they reached Dharma Vyadha's house the ascetic was again made to
wait while his host lovingly attended to his parents. It was quite some time
before the meatseller could return to his guest but the young man showed no
trace of anger. A transformation had come over him.
"Now I know what dharma is," he said, rising and bowing to the meatseller.
Giving up the path of asceticism he returned home and begged forgiveness of
his parents for having deserted them in their old age.
"I seek your blessings," he said, "to give me strength to do my dharma."