Thursday, June 23, 2011

Managing Ego









Once there lived a very venomous snake in a hole in a garden. Young boys who frequented the garden to play were virtually scared of the snake and were extremely cautious while playing in the garden.

One day the boys informed about the snake to a sadhu who was passing by. The sadhu went near the hole where the snake lived. The snake as usual tried to harm the sadhu. The sadhu with his powers, quelled the wrath of the snake and advised the snake to take up the path of rightful living. The snake also lived by the words of the sadhu and gave up its ego and anger.

The boys realised that the snake no longer was violent and recognised its calm disposition. A little boy even became bold to stone the snake, who calmly receded to its hole. One day, one of the boys caught the snake by its tail, whirled it aroung and dashed it to the ground. The snake was badly hurt, but quietly bore the assault and slithered into its hole. It avoided to come out of its hole during day time. It became customary for it to hunt for its food at night. The snake hence became weak and frail.
One day the sadhu was passing by and paid a visit to the snake. On seeing the hapless condition of the snake, he enquired about the cause. The snake who had become calmness personified, with great difficulty described the harm that the boys caused to it.
The sadhu said, “You are a fool to ignore your body, the temple of God! Don't you respect yourself? You should have ignored your body at any cost!”

The sage further advised, “I only asked you not to harm anybody. However, I never asked you to allow others to harm you. There should be no problem to scare the others who harm you. I only asked you not to bite, but never asked you not to hiss! One should remain cool within while on the surface it should appear that one is angry. The knowledge of one's true self brings about this calmness within!"

Moral of the Story ....
Friends, the ego may be put to use in different ways, so that one does not become a door mat. At the same time. one has to be more alert so that, one is not used by the ego.
Live a Meaningfull Day Friends !!

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