My Dear Son, book one

distribution of wealth among have-nots. Every man of knowledge advocates Giving away to poor and needy,

  (13) Reservation of a seat in heaven is often linked to the extent of wealth you share with poor people around you.

  Suggestion:

  (1) Do not wait until you change the order of society to change the status of the poor. If at all, it would happen some day, much later.

  (2) Do not wait until you have enough resources to feed every poor.

  (3) If you can help someone in hunger with one square meal, once a week do it. Do it today.

  (4) There is no dearth of good hearts among us. Many contribute to bringing up orphaned children, pld age home, street children run by NGOs. Some act individually and collectively search for the poorest of poor and most needy person in the society. Become a part of it.

  Theme: Help others around you.

  A long story 9

  Help the needy -A Tale of Iran

  There are natural people.

  That is those who are not very much different from animals. Because both natural people and animals in the wild do not own anything. They cannot work today and eat for several days.

  The country of origin of this story is, the present day Iran and the chief character is a wood cutter, a widower.

  Whatever he earns will be just sufficient for a day’s simple meal for him and his daughter..

  One day, his daughter, expressed her desire to have food that only riches can afford. Her father explained that it calls for extra money. Extra money means extra hours of work. So, to fulfill his daughter’s desire, he started working from early morning to very late into the night.

  The first day, when he returned from the , it was too late . His daughter latched the door from inside and slept.

  He tried to wake-up her up but in vain. This continued for 2 / 3 days.

  For the next three days he ended-up sleeping just outside his house and left for the forest early next morning before his daughter wokeup.

  On the fourth day he was terribly hungry. As it happened in the three previous nights, the door was latched from inside without response for his knock. The woodcutter sank to the doorstep and wept. At that moment some one touching his shoulder, asked ‘what went wrong with him’.

  The wood-cutter, looked up to find that it was a pious old person. He explained him his plight and said he did not eat for the last three days and was sleeping at the door steps.

  On hearing this story, the pious person offered him raisins and dates, (which are considered as rich food) that he was carrying along with him.

  Both ate. The wood-cutter was saved from the agony of hunger. The pious man reminded the wood-cutter that day was a Friday and a holy day. A day when you pray the God, who remove difficulties of people who pray him. The pious man advised the wood-cutter to look for someone who need a help and share with them what you have. Make it a point to tell him our story, the way you were helped. Let this act of helping the needy on the eve of Friday, spread. Saying so, the pious man vanished into the thin air. The daughter opened the door. Father explained his daughter what happened on three nights.

  With the money they accumulated both daughter and father ate and enjoyed different foods for a few more days. The days passed.

  One day, the princess of that country passing by in a horse drawn carriage spotted the wood-cutter’s daughter and offered her a job of her personal attendant. This brought daughter and father great fortune.

  Woodcutter no longer goes to forest for his livelihood.

  He forgot the pious man and his advice.

  One day, the princess went to spend a day at the private park belonging to the king, accompanied by her personal assistant. There, before swimming, the princess removed her necklace and placed it on in a nearby bush. After bathing the princess forgot to take back the necklace and when she realized it is missing, blamed her personal assistant for it.

  The wood-cutter’s daughter was hurt and returned home crying. Soon her father was arrested by kings’ men and public hurled insults on him.

  That was a Friday. The woodcutter, remembered. He also remembered the pious man who helped him when he suffered from extreme hunger. I never bothered to keep- up my word to the pious man, he thought. I was an ungrateful person. He cried for god’s mercy.

  Suddenly from nowhere appeared a packet of raisins and a poor and young boy was approaching him.

  He offered the raisins he then received, to the poor boy and offered to tell his story as how he had been helped. He requested him to offer any one on Friday and help them telling the story as how he was helped.

  The boy thanked the wood-cutter and went a few yards only to be stopped by a rich merchant who was searching for his missing son. The boy and his parents had a happy reunion.

  Such a chain continues.

  Saturday morning, the princess started on a second picnic to the same spot where she lost her necklace.

  After swimming in the lake, when she returned she found her necklace shining in the bush. She realized, after all woodcutter’s daughter did not take it at all.

  The royal message couriers carried the good news that the lost necklace was found. The wood-cutter was freed and his daughter reinstated. The story ended happily.

  From then on, on every Friday the woodcutter made it a point to find someone in need, share what he had, and tell his tale of God who eliminated the difficulties of people who prayed him.

  The Story suggests, not a mere help to others, but to establish a help-chain!

  Theme: Art of helping

  Short Story 10

  VEDA BECOMES AN ANGEL

 

  You can become a God, yourself.

  Veda, a kind hearted woman, reached that small town along with her husband and children, upon her husband’s transfer.

  She was busy organising the new house that was provided to them. She was busy going to the small market place, near her home, to buy things needed for the new home.

  On her way to market, she needs to cross a public park and she was looking all around new people and new faces. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a poor girl seated on the path close to the park.

  She was wondering why this little girl was sitting on the pavement while the children on her age mingled with other children and were playing merrily in the park.

  The girl, with her eyes filled with sadness, sat watching the passers-by. Veda, went near the girl, stood close to the girl. Then she observed that the girl had a hunch-back. She could quickly understand as to why the girl is not playing with the fellow children. She enquired the girl, her name and slowly befriended her. She also understood that the girl is poor and has physical deformity. She, added that, she had no friends for the same reason.

  Veda, talked to the girl softly. Brought some delicious food from the nearby restaurant which both enjoyed. Veda took leave of the girl for that day and met her time and again. She described the girl as pretty, assured the poor girl that she is the one closer to god. The girl was cheerful for the first time in her life. She said so. In the next few days that followed, Veda made it a point to buy small gifts which made the girl cheerful.

  All of a sudden, the poor girl was not spotted on the pavements near the park. She searched all around, whenever she went to market. Finally, she asked some shop- keepers and people who might have seen her with that little girl, only to hear that they never saw any poor girl around, especially with a hunch-back.

  Suddenly, to her surprise, the poor girl appeared before her. Slowly the poor girl turned into a beautiful angel. Veda could not believe her eyes and thought that she was perhaps dreaming.

  The angel spoke. “No one else, other than you saw me and Only people who are kind at heart can see an angel”.

  By your good heart towards poor and needy you could see me. You can become an angel yourself by showing genuine care and true love to needy.

  Theme : Selfless actions

  Short Story 11: The Man and Mango.

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sp; A story is told of a very old peasant who was planting a sapling of a mango plant.

  The kings, invariably had the routine of going around their kingdom, incognito, dressed like a common man and mingled with his subjects. The idea is to have a first hand knowledge of his subjects and their problems. To check if his ministers and officials discharged their duties properly. A king was passing by a remote village where an old peasant was seen busy planting a mango sapling.

  He looked at the peasant and asked his age. Peasant replied that he was somewhere in his eighties.

  The king then demanded to know as how many years would it take for the plant to grow and yield fruits. The peasant replied that , say, forty more years! The king asked if the peasant would be alive then.

  The peasant replied in negative. But, he continued, “Dear Youngman, today we are enjoying the fruits, or in short, the efforts of people who do not live any longer. The roads, the trees you see today, we won’t know who created it. But we use it merrily.

  It is not absolutely necessary that we should work or produce that would be useful only for our own needs or consumption.

  The king was pleasantly surprised with the old man’s attitude. He immediately pulled- out a golden necklace and presented it to the peasant. The peasant was taken aback from the gestures of the strange young man and quipped,

  “It took nearly forty years for getting the reward for planting and caring a tree. I am now in such a country that I get rewarded for a work even before I completed it”.

  Theme: Perform, sincerely, always ! It is a matter of positive attitude.

  Know this:

  (1) Most of our actions are performed in a distracted way.

  (2) We react instead of acting.

  (3) The worst of all is that, we perform always less than the best, that we are really capable of.

  (4) Often, life offer no features to correct the past mistakes.

  (5) If we have a positive mind set, certainly we would perform our best, every time.

  Theme: Perform, sincerely, always !

  Short Story 12

  The Jakku’s last assignment

  This story is about a mason called Jakku. He was old. One day he decided to quit the professional life. There is an end for everything in life. So thought the old mason, he would stop working.

  The old mason conveyed his master, a building contractor, of his plan to quit construction work.

  He thanked his master for the generous pay that he gave him throughout his career. The contractor was sorry to learn that a dependable, good artisan was not part of his team any more.

  The contractor asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. Jack reluctantly agreed even though he did not want to.

  The result was a shoddy workmanship, poor quality of the material he used.

  The quality of his work was the reflection of his mind that he was uninterested in the work. He knew that it was a bad to end his good career.

  When the mason finished his work the builder came to inspect the house.

  The master cum contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “It is my gift to your sincerity, honesty and good work done for several decades.”

  What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built notso well.

  So it is with us.

  Imagine yourself in the place of the mason in the story. Remember that every house you build is yours. Even if you live for only one day more, that last day deserves to be lived equally graciously.

  Theme: Avoid a fool’s company.

  Know this:

  (1)It is possible to find more fools than knowledgeable people in the society.

  (2) Knowledgeable people cannot be easily cheated.

  (3) Fools can be exploited and enslaved.

  (4) We may feel safer in the company of fools than people with knowledge.

  (5) But yet, it is dangerous to associate with fools.

  Theme: Avoid a fool’s company.

  Short story 13

  The Fox in the town

  In the forest there was a fox, which had an eagle as a friend. The Eagle flew over long distances and return to the forest. The eagle would tell the fox every interesting events inside and outside the forest.

  One day the eagle visited a nearby town. It found people growing fruits and vegetables in their farms spread all around the town. These were large and healthy. Such fruits and vegetables are very rare in the forest.

  The eagle added that, there were no wild animals in the town to fear for. There are people and animals who are lazy and weak.

  The fox was convinced that the life in the city must be great. So, one night, it took leave of its friends and set on its journey to a nearby town.

  It was dark when it reached the nearby town. Walked around the towns major roads and spotted lone donkey busy eating from the junk strewn along the road side. There was no one else on the town roads at that time of the night.

  The donkey had a miserable life, like any other Donkeys it knew of. It always tried and failed to understand, why the masters of cows, bulls and horses took extensive care of their four-legged companions while the masters of donkeys did not.

  The only exception is Donkeys. Their masters made them work hard. Never cared to provide them any food. They even did not display their affection towards them which the masters of cows, bulls and horses often did.

  The donkey was sure, as a specie, the donkeys are very sincere to their masters. The only freedom their creed got was that it was let free at night to find their food so that it can be back in the morning to resume the work for their masters.

  The fox was new to town and it was afraid to venture into the farms alone. It was looking for a safe companion to explore and enjoy the rich fruits and vegetables grown there.

  The fox approached the donkey that was busy eating and introduced itself. The donkey put forth several questions to the new comer to the town to ascertain if it was safe to move with it.

  The same way, with the discussions it had with the donkey the fox understood that the donkey was no cleverer than itself and it is safe to befriend it.

  Fox shared all it learnt from his friend eagle about the town and the farms around. It wondered why the donkey choose to eat junk while good vegetables and fruits are grown in the outskirts.

  When the donkey learnt about the farms around the town, it initially refused to believe. Then both fox and donkey reached a farm after a long walk.

  Together they ate fresh vegetables and fruits and were jubilant that they never enjoyed such a sumptuous food in their lives.

  It was early morning and the both of them decided to part their ways only to meet again in the midnight.

  Fox went into a hiding where as the donkey headed towards its master’s home.

  Several days passed and the friends went after farm after farm. The farmers who had peaceful sleep all along found their farms are looted and ruined by some unknown people. They did not suspect that a donkey-fox pair could be the cause of their misery.

  The farmers set up teams to keep a watch in the farms by turns so as to catch the thieves and thrash them.

  Day by day the donkey grew fatter and happier.

  It became more confident that it can continue to enjoy such a free feast for ever.

  One night the fox was very happy and started singing in its coarse voice and aloud. The fox became troubled. It persuaded the donkey not to make noise. If it continued, the fox warned, it would alert the farmers to find them.

  The Donkey was annoyed at the fox for its observations. It mocked at the fox saying that it is unfit to live in cities. It added that forest animals were cowards. The fox had its own problem. It needed a company for its night-outs. It persuaded the donkey to stop braying.

  It was minutes before they would have left the farm, a dozen men with sticks descended o
n the farm. They found the fox and donkey among the fruits and vegetables pulled out of the plants.

  They cornered both the animals and smashed thrashed them thoroughly till they became unconscious.

  The farmers thought that both were dead and left the place. Farmers were happy that they can have their night’s sleep in peace and their farms will be free of pilferage and ruin.

  After a few hours both the animals regained their consciousness. They found their bones broken all over their body. It slowly moved out of the farm before the dawn. It took several months before they got well.

  The donkey soon after it got well went back to its master. It decided to live on the food that it was used to ever since its birth and not to indulge in thieving. The fox returned to forest with vow not to befriend fools.

  Theme: Do not depend on LUCK Know this:

  (1) There is nothing called a luck.

  (2) The chance and luck are not one and the same.

  (3) Our sincere effort with a positive mind set, we can succeed.

  Suggestions:

  (1) Do not blame FATE, ill luck for our failures.

  Theme: Do not depend on LUCK

  Short Story 14

  What is LUCK?

  Mulla Nasrudin is a Sufi saint. What made him distinct from other saints was his humour.

  All men of knowledge have their own unique way to educate and rein-in peace and happiness in people around them. Typically, Sufi saints are known to use Music to express their thoughts to others.

  One day, his disciples sought his explanation of the much talked about Luck, Fate. and Destiny.

  These are mere Assumptions, replied Mulla Nasrudin.

  The followers sought his explanation. Mulla Nasrudin replied:

  When you assume that a certain event is likely to go well, and if it don’t - that you call it bad luck or ill-luck.

  On the contrary, when one assume that certain events would go badly and if they don’t - that you call it luck.

  The assumptions are based on intuition or an idea based on insufficient information or Data and often a wishful-thought.

  So there is every chance that it can be wrong.

  With wrong assumptions, insufficient data you enter an act. If it fails you call it ill-fate and bad destiny.

  Theme: Tire before you retire!

  Know this:

  (1) We are born only to be on the run. Not to behave as an inanimate object.

  (2) If one has sufficient resources, it does not mean you should not play an active role into the world.

  Theme: Tire before you retire!

  Short Story 15

  Tire before retire

  Such moral stories as this, have a lot of message. Let us take just one out of it.

  The story goes as follows:

  The back drop of this story is a large scenic lake in a village with several trees all along the bund. It was a summer. One can imagine several people enjoying a nice sleep under the trees in the shades provided by the trees.

  We the city folk, used to sleeping only inside four walls can never even imagine the pleasures these simple and poor villages enjoy.

  The village has a large lake spread over a couple of kilometers in every direction. There were several sprawling trees all around the lake.

  It was midday then. The heat from the sun was scorching. Peasants had no work to do during the noon. They sought refuge under the shades of a tree. Cowherds and shepherds left the cattle to gaze