JIGYASA

There is a big difference between activity and accomplishment. This was demonstrated by a French scientist named Fable. He conducted an experiment with processionary caterpillars. Caterpillars follow the one in front of them blindly. Fable arranged them in  a circle in a flowerpot  so that the lead caterpillar actually was behind the last one forming a circle. He put pine needles (food for the caterpillars) in the center of  the flowerpot. The caterpillars kept going in a circle in the  pot. Eventually,  after a week of circling around, they dropped dead of exhaustion and starvation with food only inches away from them. We need to learn a lesson from the caterpillars. Just because you are doing something, doesn't mean you are getting anywhere. One must evaluate one's activity in order to have accomplishment.

"एक आदमी मेले में गुब्बारे बेच कर गुज़र-बसर करता था। उसके पास लाल, नीले, पीले, हरे और इसके अलावा कई रंगों के गुब्बारे थे। जब उसकी बिक्री कम होने लगती तो वह हीलियम गैस से भरा एक गुब्बारा हवा में उड़ा देता। बच्चे जब उस उड़ते गुब्बारे को देखते, तो वैसा ही गुब्बारा पाने के लिए आतुर हो उठते। वे उसके पास गुब्बारे "खरीदने के लिए पहुँच जाते, और उस आदमी की बिक्री फिर बढ़ने लगती। उस आदमी की बिक्री जब भी घटती, वह उसे बढ़ाने के लिए गुब्बारे उड़ाने का यही तरीका अपनाता। एक दिन गुब्बारे वाले को महसूस हुआ कि कोई उसके जैकेट को खींच रहा है। उसने पलट कर देखा तो वहाँ एक बच्चा खड़ा था। बच्चे ने उससे पूछा, “अगर आप हवा में किसी काले गुब्बारे को छोड़ें, तो क्या वह भी उड़ेगा?” बच्चे के इस सवाल ने गुब्बारे वाले के मन को छू लिया। बच्चे की ओर मुड़ कर उसने जवाब दिया, “बेटे, गुब्बारा अपने रंग की वजह से नहीं, बल्कि उसके अंदर भरी चीज़ की वजह से उड़ता है।      "हमारी ज़िंदगी में भी यही उसूल लागू होता है। अहम चीज़ हमारी अंदरूनी शख़्सियत है। हमारी अदंरूनी शख़्सियत की वजह से हमारा जो नज़रिया बनता है, वही हमें ...

There was a sailor who worked on  the same boat for three years. One night he got drunk. This was the first time it ever happened. The captain recorded it in the log, "The sailor was drunk tonight." The sailor read it, and he knew this comment would affect his  career, so he went to the captain, apologized and asked the captain to add that it only happened once in three years which was the complete truth. The captain refused and  said, "What  I have written in the  log is the  truth." The next day it was the sailor's turn to fill in the log. He wrote, "The captain was sober tonight." The captain read the comment and asked the sailor to change or add to it explaining the complete truth because this implied that the captain was drunk every other night. The sailor told the captain that what he had written in the log was the truth. Both statements were true  but they conveyed misleading messages.              ...

I heard about  a medical doctor who was invited as a guest speaker to address a group of alcoholics. He wanted to make a demonstration that would be powerful enough to make people realize that alcohol was injurious to their health. He had two containers, one with pure distilled water and one with pure alcohol. He put an earthworm into the distilled water and it swam  beautifully and came up to the top. He put another earthworm into the alcohol and it disintegrated in front of everyone's eyes. He wanted to prove that this was what alcohol did to the insides of our body. He asked the group what  the moral of the story was and one person from behind said, "If you drink alcohol you won't have worms in your stomach."                                              Was  that the message? Of course not. That was selective listening--we hear what we wan...

  There was a farmer who sold  a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if  he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied,  amour Honor, I am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but I do have a scale." The judge asked, "Then how do you weigh the butter?" The farmer replied  "Your Honor,  long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound  loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings  the bread, I put it on  the  scale and give him  the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker." What is the moral of the story? We get back in life what we give to others. Same in our life we deserve to get only what we give to others . In this world nothing is free all is depend on what we give or what...

Tom Watson Sr. said, "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate." If you study history, you will find that all stories of success are also stories of great failures. But people don't see the failures. They only see one side of the picture and they say that person got lucky: "He must have been at the right place at the right time." Let me share someone's life history with you.  This was a man who failed in business at the age of 21 ; was defeated in a legislative race at age 22; failed again in business at age 24; overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26; had a nervous breakdown at age 27; lost a congressional race at age 34; lost a senatorial race at age 45; failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47; lost a senatorial race at age 49; and was elected president of the United States at age 52.                                            ...

There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world. That could walk on water . He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends. He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about his amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, "Yes, in fact, I did notice something unusual. Your dog can't swim." in this world all        

There is a story about a wealthy farmer who was once offered all the land he could walk on in a day, provided he came back by sundown to the point where he started. To get a new start, early the next morning the farmer started covering ground quickly because he wanted to get as much land as he could. Even though he was tired, he kept going all afternoon because he didn't want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to gain more wealth.    Late in the afternoon he realized the condition he had to fulfill to get the land was to get back to the starting point by sundown. His greed had gotten him far enough. He started his return journey, keeping an eye on how close he was to sundown. The closer it got to sundown, the faster he ran. He was exhausted, out of breath and pushed himself beyond the point of endurance. He collapsed upon reaching the starting point and died. He did make it before sundown. He was buried and all the land he needed was a small plot.   ...

There is a story about a king who called his advisers and asked them to write down the wisdom of the ages so that he could pass it on to future generations. After a lot of work, the advisers came up with several volumes of wisdom and presented them to the king. The king called his advisers and said that it was too long, people would not read it. They had to condense it. The advisers went back to work and came back with one volume. The king said the same thing. They came back again with one chapter and then one page, and the king said the same thing still until they came up with one sentence that satisfied the king. He said that if there was one piece of wisdom that he wanted to pass on to future generations, it is this one sentence: "There is no free lunch."

A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked, 'What did you want the most when you were there?" The boy replied, "Air." Socrates said, "That is the secret to success.                                         When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it." There is no other secret.

I read a story of two brothers. One was a drug addict and a drunk who frequently beat up his family. The other one was a very successful businessman who was respected in society and had a wonderful family. Some people wanted to find out why two brothers from the same parents, brought up in the same environment, could be so different. The first one was asked, "How come you do what you do? You are a drug addict, a drunk, and you beat your family. What motivates you?" He said, "My father." They asked, "What about your father?" The reply was, "My father was a drug addict, a drunk and he beat his family. What do you expect me to be? That is what I am." They went to the brother who was doing everything right and asked him the same question. "How come you are doing everything right? What is your source of motivation?" And guess what he said? "My father. When I was a little boy, I used to see my dad drunk and doing all the wrong things. ...

An eagle's egg was placed in the nest of a prairie chicken. The egg hatched and the little eagle grew up thinking it was a prairie chicken. The eagle did what the prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds. It clucked and cackled. It never flew more than a few feet because that is what the prairie chickens did. One day he saw an eagle flying gracefully and majestically in  the open sky. He asked the prairie chickens: "What is  that beautiful bird?" The chickens replied, "That is  an eagle.  He is an outstanding bird, but you cannot fly like him because you are just a prairie chicken." So the eagle never gave it a second thought, believing that to be the truth. He lived the life  of and died a prairie chicken, depriving himself of his heritage because of his lack of  vision. What a waste! He was born to win, but was conditioned to lose. The same thing is true of most people. The unfortunate part...

Once there was a lark singing in the forest. The lark stopped him and asked, "What do you have in the box and where are you going?" The farmer replied that he had worms and that he was going to the market to trade them for some feathers. The lark said, "I have many feathers. I will pluck one and give it to you and that will save me looking for worms." The farmer gave the worms to the lark and the lark plucked a feather and gave it in return. The next day the same thing happened and the day after and on and on until a day came that the lark had no more feathers. Now it couldn't fly and hunt for worms. It started looking ugly and stopped singing and very soon it died.       What is the moral of the story? The moral is quite clear what the lark thought was an easy way to get food turned out to be the tougher way after all. Isn't the same thing true in our lives? Many times we look for the easier way, which really ends up being the tougher way.

There is a story about a man  who sold hot dogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers . He was hard of hearing, so he  never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he  never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hot dogs. His sales and profit went up. He ordered  more meat and got  himself a bigger and a better stove. As  his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father. Then something strange happened. The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me  about it." The son said, "The international situation  is terrible. The domestic is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad time." The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, and  listened to the radio, he ought to know and his advice  should not be taken lightly. So the next d...

Once someone asked a farmer if he had planted wheat for the season. The farmer replied, "No. I was afraid it  wouldn't rain." Then the man  asked, "Did you plant corn?" The farmer  said, "No. I was afraid of insects  eating one  corn. Then the man asked , " What did you plant ? " The farmer  said, "Nothing. I played it safe."               Moral -The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and  is nothing.                                                                                                                                              ...

  There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy. The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and comm...