Read an excellent story narrated by Swami Viveckanand.There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went searching for a ghost and met a sage. He requested the sage to grant him powers to invoke a ghost. The sage warned him against it but on much insistence he gave him a magic charm with a warning Take this charm, repeat this magic word and a ghost will come, and whatever you say he will do. But beware, they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life. The man replied, That is easy I can give him work for all his life. The ghost was soon called and when he appeared he said I have been conquered by your magic; but keep me constantly employed or the moment you fail I will kill you The man made the ghost build castle for him, get him loads of money, build a city and so on. But all the work would get done in a giffy. Finally when the man had no other work for the ghost the ghost said Give me something to do or I will eat you up. Scared to the core the man ran back to the sage asking for his help. The sage said he had warned the man, but when the man pleaded for mercy he said I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail. Draw your sword quickly and cut the tail off and give it to the ghost to straighten out. The man gave it to the ghost and asked him to straighten the tail out. The ghost worked slowly and several times on the tail but everytime it was straightened out it would curl up again. Finally he was exhausted and said I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble I will make a compromise with you, you let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you The man was much pleased and accepted the offer. Moral of the story as laid out by Swami Vivekanand (And this one is especially for one of the self confessed follower who is contesting the elections. I hope he knows the story):This world is like a dogs curly tail and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years; but when they let it go, it has curled up again. How could it be otherwise? When we understand that this world is like a dogs tail and will never get straightened , we shall not become fanatics. If there was no fanaticism in the world, it would make much more progress than it does now. Fanaticism can only make people unsympathetic.You need not worry or make yourself sleepless about the world; it will go on without you. Only when you have avoided fanaticism, then alone will you work well.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 04:11:58 +0000