Perseverance

Once upon a time a certain tradesman was leading a caravan to another country to sell his goods. Along the way they came to the edge of a severe hot-sand desert. They asked about, and found that during the day time the sun heats up the fine sand until it's as hot as charcoal, so no one can walk on it - not even bullocks or camels! So the caravan leader hired a desert guide, one who could follow the stars, so they could travel only at night when the sand cools down. They began the dangerous night time journey across the desert. A couple of nights later, after eating their evening meal, and waiting for the sand to cool, they started out again. Later that night the desert guide, who was driving the first cart, saw from the stars that they were getting close to the other side of the desert. He had also overeaten, so that when he relaxed, he dozed off to sleep. Then the bullocks who, of course, couldn't tell directions by reading the stars, gradually turned to the side and went in a big wide circle until they ended up at the same place they had started from!

 By then it was morning, and the people realized they were back at the same spot they'd camped at the day before. They lost heart and began to cry about their condition. Since the desert crossing was supposed to be over by now, they had no more water and were afraid they would die of thirst. They even began to blame the caravan leader and the desert guide - "We can do nothing without water!", they complained. Then the tradesman thought to himself, "If I lose courage now, in the middle of this disastrous situation, my leadership has no meaning. If I fall to weeping and regretting this misfortune, and do nothing, all these goods and bullocks and even the lives of the people, including myself, may be lost. I must be energetic and face the situation!" So he began walking back and forth, trying to think out a plan to save them all.

 Remaining alert, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small clump of grass. He thought, "Without water, no plant could live in this desert." So he called over the most energetic of his fellow travelers and asked them to dig up the ground on that very spot. They dug and dug, and after a while they got down to a large stone. Seeing it they stopped, and began to blame the leader again, saying "This effort is useless. We're just wasting our time!" But the tradesman replied, "No no, my friends, if we give up the effort we will all be ruined and our poor animals will die - let us be encouraged!" As he said this, he got down into the hole, put his ear to the stone, and heard the sound of flowing water. Immediately, he called over a boy who had been digging and said, "If you give up, we will all perish - so take this heavy hammer and strike the rock." The boy lifted the hammer over his head and hit the rock as hard as he could - and he himself was the most surprised when the rock spilt in two and a mighty flow of water gushed out from under it! Suddenly, all the people were overjoyed. They drank and bathed and washed the animals and cooked their food and ate.

Be yourself...

Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course under a great master. This young artist decided to assess his skills to give his best stroke on the canvas. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. Based on his masters advice he decided to display it on a busy street-square of the small town he was resident of. He wanted people's opinion about his caliber and painting skills. He put his creation at a busy street-crossing with a board below the painting which read-"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes, please put a cross wherever you spot a mistake in the painting… When he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvas was filled with cross marks and some people had even written their comments on the painting. Disheartened and heartbroken he ran to his masters place and burst into tears. Sobbing inconsolably he told his master about what happened and showed the pathetic state of his creation which was filled with marks everywhere. Such was the state of the painting that even the colors were not visible, one could only see cross marks and correction remarks. This young artist felt rejected and was disheartened.

The Master smiled and suggested "My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt to paint flawlessly. Just paint exactly similar painting once again and give it to me.  Will you do that for your master?.."  Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later he presented an exact replica of his earlier painting to his master. The Master took that gracefully and smiled. They reached the same street-square and displayed the same painting exactly where the artist had placed it a few days earlier. Now master took out another board which read -"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes - I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do me a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it." The Master and the disciple walked back home. They both visited the place same evening. The Young painter was surprised to see that there was not a single correction done so far. But master wasn't satisfied and he told his disciple "May be one day was too little a time for people to come up with ideas and take out time out of their busy schedules to correct it so let us keep it here for one more day. Tomorrow is Sunday, so we can expect some corrections coming in." Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched.. They kept the painting there for a week and still no correction came in! The Master finally said,” It just takes a stroke of a paint brush to make a cross mark in a painting but a great deal of knowledge to evaluate and correct it “ " If you take the world to be your judge, you would always be disappointed. People tend to make judgments, pass remarks on others without any authenticity and seriousness. Be your own judge and trade your virtues with the world for an equitable and fair consideration. You can be assured that you would never be disappointed with yourself or your work."