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Showing posts with the label Wisdom

Story of Alexander the Great and Yogi Kalyan

A lexander's thirst for knowledge was real. Once he invited an ascetic Brahmin named Kalyana to Takshila for a philosophical discussion. According to the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch, Alexander himself framed a few questions.Some of these questions are as follows:  Which are more numerous,the living or the dead? The living,for the dead are not. Which has got higher number of animals - the sea or the land? The land,for the sea is only a part of land. Which is the cleverest of all beasts that man should fear? That one with which man is not yet acquainted. (Man fears the unknown.) Which existed first,the day or the night? The day was first by one day. Alexander showed surprise on this. The Brahmin smiled and added: "Impossible questions require impossible answers." How may a man make himself beloved of all? A man will be beloved when possessed with great power does not make himself feared. How may a man become a God? By doing that which it is impossible for ...

The story of King of the Birds

O ne day the birds took it into their heads that  one of their number must be chosen king. A meeting of all the birds was called, and on a beautiful May morning they assembled from woods and fields and meadows. The eagle, the robin, the bluebird, the owl, the lark, the sparrow were all there. The cuckoo came, and the lapwing,  There also came a very little bird that had no name at all. There was great confusion and noise. There was piping, hissing, chattering and clacking, and finally it was decided that the bird that could fly the highest should be king. The signal was given and all the birds flew in a great flock into the air. There was a loud rustling and whirring and beating of wings. The air was full of dust, and it seemed as if a black cloud were floating over the field. The little birds soon grew tired and fell back quickly to earth. The larger ones held out longer, and flew higher and higher, but the eagle flew highest of any. He rose, and rose, until he s...

The Lazy Bird

T here was once a little bird who was very nice, but very, very lazy. Every day, when it was time to get up, they had to shout at him again and again before he would finally struggle out of bed. And when there was some job he had to do, he would keep putting it off until there was hardly enough time left to do it. People kept telling him "What a lazy bird you are! You can't just keep leaving everything to the last minute”. "Bah! There's really no problem", answered the little bird, "I just take a bit longer to get around to doing things, that's all". The birds spent all summer flying and playing, and when autumn came and you could start feeling the cold, they began to prepare for the long journey to a warmer land. But our little bird, lazy as ever, kept putting it off, feeling quite sure that there would be plenty of time to prepare for the journey. That was, until one day when he woke up and all the other birds were gone. Just like every othe...