The below mentioned Inspirational Tales and short stories make for a great read for both adults and children. The tales carry a fabulous message of living life purposefully and righteously.
These Inspirational Tales and Quotes are from the September 2003 issue, of Akhand Jyoti magazine. Akhand Jyoti or "Light Divine" is a magazine that captures the writings and thoughts of the Divine Sage and follower of Vedanta -Yugrishi Shriram Sharma Acharya. The magazine was started in 1936 and has millions of readers worldwide. A web link to read Akhand Jyoti online is available at the end of this article.
These Inspirational Tales and Quotes are from the September 2003 issue, of Akhand Jyoti magazine. Akhand Jyoti or "Light Divine" is a magazine that captures the writings and thoughts of the Divine Sage and follower of Vedanta -Yugrishi Shriram Sharma Acharya. The magazine was started in 1936 and has millions of readers worldwide. A web link to read Akhand Jyoti online is available at the end of this article.
Inspirational and Motivational Stories, Quotes,Tales and Fables:
STORY #1:
A king was in search of a spiritual guide. He made the following announcement to search out a GUIDE for himself and set a contest for this purpose: “The king will give land free to all participating saints . One who is able to construct the grandest mansion at the earliest time will be declared as the Raj guru. Many persons known as spiritual masters offered themselves to compete for the coveted position. They took land, collected contributions and started constructing the mansions matching the king’s expectations. The king used to supervise their progress every day.
Construction work was going on rapidly. One saint who was also a contestant was found sitting on the same place every day on the land given to him. The King asked him “Why don’t you start constructing the mansion?” He replied “This vast open and grandiose world is my mansion. What grander mansion than this can I build? Any man made construction needs to be constantly looked after and maintained and one develops a false sense of ownership towards it. Hence I always keep on looking after and maintaining this vast world without any sense of ownership. Why should I build a new one?” The king came to know the essence of real knowledge and he humbly requested the saint to be his Guru.
*******
King Bindujat once planned to offer royal financial support to the shelter-less Sadhus ( shelter less hermits) in his state. He gave this responsibility to his able minister named Gratsaman. The minister roved around the entire state with a bag of gold coins but could not distribute a single coin. Finally he returned unsuccessful and gave the 'treasure' back to the King.
The King could not believe that there was no shelter-less Sadhu in his country. He asked the minister – “Why was the money not distributed?
The minister humbly replied – "His Majesty, the money was meant for the true hermits who chose to live a nomadic life for the noble purpose of helping more and more people from their saintly knowledge and goodwill.
There are many such deserving Sadhus in our nation; but they don't accept any money for themselves". He continued – "there is no dearth of fake sadhus who evade their duties and want to enjoy life on others' expense, by exploiting their religious faith…; the royal money is certainly not for them".
What should be done then? There was a debate in the royal house of ministers. Only Gratsaman came out with a constructive suggestion – “I think, instead of giving money for personal use we should lend support to the altruistic activities initiated and guided by the saintly hermits. This way we shall be making good contribution to their noble cause and offering true service to the nation as well.”
******The minister humbly replied – "His Majesty, the money was meant for the true hermits who chose to live a nomadic life for the noble purpose of helping more and more people from their saintly knowledge and goodwill.
There are many such deserving Sadhus in our nation; but they don't accept any money for themselves". He continued – "there is no dearth of fake sadhus who evade their duties and want to enjoy life on others' expense, by exploiting their religious faith…; the royal money is certainly not for them".
What should be done then? There was a debate in the royal house of ministers. Only Gratsaman came out with a constructive suggestion – “I think, instead of giving money for personal use we should lend support to the altruistic activities initiated and guided by the saintly hermits. This way we shall be making good contribution to their noble cause and offering true service to the nation as well.”
Source and Credits:
Akhand Jyoti Magazine, started by Shriram Sharma Acharya, is published by Gayatri Parivaar, Shantikunj , Hardwar.
Read Akhand Jyoti online :http://literature.awgp.org/magazine