Story

The Apple Tree

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, and took a nap under the shadow.

He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by, the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.

“Come and play with me”, the tree asked the boy.

“I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied.

“I want toys. I need money to buy them.”

“Sorry, but I do not have money, but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.”

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited.

“Come and play with me” the tree said.

“I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?”

“Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.

“Come and play with me!” the tree said.

“I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man.

“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.”

So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore.No more apples for you”, the tree said. “No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the man replied.

“No more trunk for you to climb on.” “I am too old for that now” the man said. “I really cannot give you anything, the only thing left is my dying roots,” the tree said with tears.

“I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years,” the man replied.

“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.

This is a story of everyone. The tree is like our parents. When we were young, we loved to play with our Mum and Dad. When we grow up, we leave them; only come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be there and give everything they could just to make you happy.

You may think the boy is cruel to the tree, but that is how all of us treat our parents. We take them for granted; we don’t appreciate all they do for us, until it’s too late. ~Story by Shel Silverstein

Moral

• Treat your parents with loving care…. For you will know their value, when you see their empty chair…We never know the love of our parents for us; till we have become parents .

Story

Proud Red Rose

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, “What a beautiful flower! I wish I was that lovely.” Another tree said, “Dear pine, do not be sad. We cannot have everything.”

The rose turned and remarked, “It seems that I am the most beautiful flower in this forest.”

A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, “Why do you say that? In this forest there are many beautiful flowers. You are just one of them.”

The red rose replied, “I see everyone looking at me and admiring me.” Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, “Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!”

The pine tree said, “Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is? You have thornstoo.”

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, “I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You cannot compare my thorns to that of the cactus.”

“What a proud flower,” thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like ‘this plant is useless. How sorry I am to be his neighbor.’

The cactus never got upset and even tried to advise the rose, saying, “God did not create any form of life without a purpose.”

Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as there was no rain. The red rose began to wilt.

One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds were getting water from the cactus.

“Does it not hurt when they make holes?” asked the rose.

“Yes, but the cactus does not like to see the birds suffer,” replied the pine.

The rose opened its eyes in wonder and exclaimed, “The cactus has water?”

“Yes, you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help.”

The red rose felt too ashamed to ask for water from the cactus, but finally it did ask for help. The cactus kindly agreed. The birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose’s roots.

Thus the rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone by their appearance again.

Story

Love & Time

Once upon a time all feelings and emotions went to a coastal island for a vacation. According to their nature, each was having a good time. Suddenly, a warning of an impending storm was announced and everyone was advised to evacuate the island.

The announcement caused sudden panic. All rushed to their boats. Even damaged boats were quickly repaired and commissioned for duty.

Yet, Love did not wish to flee quickly. There was so much to do. But as the clouds darkened, Love realised it was time to leave. Alas, there were no boats to spare. Love looked around with hope.

Just then Prosperity passed by in a luxurious boat. Love shouted, “Prosperity, could you please take me in your boat?”

“No,” replied Prosperity, “my boat is full of precious possessions, gold and silver. There is no place for you.”

A little later Vanity came by in a beautiful boat. Again Love shouted, “Could you help me, Vanity? I am stranded and need a lift. Please take me with you.”

Vanity responded haughtily, “No, I cannot take you with me. My boat will get soiled with your muddy feet.”

Sorrow passed by after some time. Again, Love asked for help. But it was to no avail. “No, I cannot take you with me. I am so sad. I want to be by myself.”

When Happiness passed by a few minutes later, Love again called for help. But Happiness was so happy that it did not look around, hardly concerned about anyone.

Love was growing restless and dejected. Just then somebody called out, “Come Love, I will take you with me.” Love did not know who was being so magnanimous, but jumped on to the boat, greatly relieved that she would reach a safe place.

On getting off the boat, Love met Knowledge. Puzzled, Love inquired, “Knowledge, do you know who so generously gave me a lift just when no one else wished to help?”

Knowledge smiled, “Oh, that was Time.”

“And why would Time stop to pick me and take me to safety?” Love wondered.

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and replied, “Because only Time knows your true greatness and what you are capable of. Only Love can bring peace and great happiness in this world.”

“The important message is that when we are prosperous, we overlook love. When we feel important, we forget love. Even in happiness and sorrow we forget love. Only with time do we realize the importance of love. Why wait that long? Why not make love a part of your life today?”

Why should you speak the truth?

You do not like anyone to lie to you, do you? So you should also never lie to anyone. Suppose you come to know that your friend has lied to you. How do you feel? You feel cheated. So, if you lie to anyone they will never trust you again.

How can you live a life of truth?

Step 1 – Correct your thoughts – think good thoughts, think happy thoughts. Forgive faults of others. Remember that nobody is perfect including yourself.

Step 2 – Say what you think. Never think one thing and say another thing. While speaking truth, remember to always say it politely and without hurting anyone.

Step 3 – Do what you say. Keep your word. It is not only promises that you must do it. You must try to keep your word in everything have to be kept, even if you say you will do a little thing, you must do it. You must try to keep your word in everything you say.

Story

There was once a boy named George. One day his father gave him a small axe to play with. George was very happy with the axe. Immediately he ran to the garden and began trying the axe upon a young cherry tree.

In the evening George’s father saw the cherry tree lying on the ground. “Who has done this” asked George’s father angrily.

George was afraid, but he said, “Father, I chopped the cherry tree with the little axe you gave me.”

George’s father immediately hugged his son and said, “I am very happy that you spoke the truth. I would rather lose all my trees than hear my son tell a lie.”

Do you know who that boy was? He was George Washington – the first President of United State of America.

Activity

• Find about our National Slogan (Satyameva Jayate)

Story

The thief who became virtuous

A Mahatma once came to small village. Many people were going to have darshan and a few bad characters also joined them. These men wanted ‘Upadesha from the Mahatma. They prayed for Upadesha and the Mahatma advised them that they should leave of three vices they had namely, stealing, gambling and speaking lies.

To this they said, ‘Oh, Mahatma, we cannot leave stealing and gambling because they are our livelihood. However, since you are saying we will take an oath not to speak untruth hereafter.’ The Mahatma said, “Yes, my sons, I am glad you are casting off at least one evil habit, may God bless you.”

The same night one of the thieves decided to commit theft in the King’s palace. When he approached the palace, he saw someone wandering there. That was the King himself but the thief did not know that he was the King. He was wandering in the terrace because he could not get sleep. The king asked the thief “who are you?” the thief told him – remembering the oath taken that we would always speak the truth – that he was a thief.

The king was surprised to receive such a straight forward and truthful reply and was naturally interested in him. He tried to extract more information. The King said, “I too am a thief. I will help you in your theft. Come with me.” The King took him inside and handed him the keys of an iron safe and asked him to take whatever he wanted. The thief opened the safe and found lots of things, and there were also three big diamonds. He took only two diamonds and left the third one there itself. He came out and gave one diamond to the King and told him “because I thought we cannot share three diamonds equally, and properly, I did not take anything else except these two diamonds. So take one diamond and I will keep one for me.” So saying he gave back the keys and one diamond to the King. The King asked him his address and offered to help him in future thefts also. The thief gave his address, thanked the king and left.

The next morning the king announced the theft in the palace and ordered the Prime Minister to report after proper investigation.

The minister opened the safe and found a diamond there he was tempted and thought he could very well pocked it and can go unchecked because every will think that all the three diamonds must have been stolen by the thieves.

He then reported to the king that all the three diamonds were stolen.

The king sent his soldiers to bring the thief whose address he had taken on the previous night. The thief was brought before the king but he could not recognize the king in his full costume. The king asked him what all he had done in the palace the previous night.

The thief admitted that the stolen diamonds from the safe, the keys of which were given to him by a person whom he met on the terrace.

He further stated that both of them shared one diamond each. Thought the king knew this he did not want the people to know that he knew. He felt happy to hear only truth from the thief. The minister had committed theft and also spoken lies.

The king ordered a search on the minister and the diamond was detected in his pocket. He was dismissed for his crime and the thief was appointed in his place as an appreciation of his truth. The thief went and vowed before the Mahatma to give up one vice only i.e. talking lies. See what a benefit it has done to the thief.

Along with telling lies, his other vices of stealing and gambling also are gone since he had now no longer any necessity for them. With giving up one vice, all vices also are gone. With one virtue, all virtues come by themselves. “Truthfulness destroys all Durgunas”.

Activity

• Write any one bad quality of yours in a chit and promise to leave that quality and in another chit use any one good quality you will start practicing from that day.

Story

The Fighting Fingers

Once there was a quarrel among the five fingers of the hand. Each one exclaimed that it was the greatest and it was the important one. The little finger said, “I am the most important one though I am the smallest one. When anyone has to do Namaskar, I volunteer to stand first and while counting also I am the first.”

The ring finger said,” I am the greatest because from the king to an ordinary man adorn me with a ring studded with precious gems and hence I am called as the ring finger.” The middle finger said, “I am the tallest and I have the honour of having two fingers on either side as body guards to a Governor.”

The fore finger (index finger) said, “I am the ultimate authority while evaluating persons as good and bad.” At last the thumb said with a smile, “Oh! What are you all boasting about? You cannot do anything without my support.”

All the fingers realised that all are important and hence all have to work together in unity as “unity is strength”.

Namaskar

meaning

• Thumb – For the people who are very near and dear to us – family & friends
• Index finger – Those who give direction to the world – like teachers, gurus, acharyas. Scientists, doctors etc
• Middle finger – Leaders of the world
• Ring finger – Weaker section of society
• Small finger – for ourselves
• The prayer for self should be last and small.

Story

Power of Concentration

Swami Vivekananda, in his childhood was playing a game called ‘meditation’ with his friends. In this game all the children would sit with closed eyes and everyone would think of some deity he liked most.

One day, when they were playing this game, one of them heard a soft sound. As he opened his eyes, he saw a big snake crawling on the ground and coming towards them. As he shouted, “Cobra! Cobra!” all except Vivekananda ran away shouting. All his friends started shouting asking him to get up and run. But he did not hear this shouting at all. He was sitting still with his eyes closed, thinking only of God. He did not know what was going on around him.

And what did the cobra do? It moved on the ground this way and that way and then went away. All his friends, parents as well as his neighbours were all surprised at his power of concentration and his love for God.

Because of this concentration, Vivekananda could remember his lessons clearly even with one or two readings. At college too, he was known as a bright scholar. This power helped him greatly.

Once, when he was at Chicago in America, he saw some young boys trying to shoot eggshells floating in the river. As the shells rode up and down on the small waves, the boys could not hit them. All the boys tried a number of times but all of them missed the target. They noticed that Vivekananda was watching them with keen interest. So, they called out to him, “You have been watching us all the time. Do you think you can do better?” Vivekananda gave them a smile and said that he would like to try. Taking the gun in his hand, he aimed at the eggshells, concentrating on the target for some time. Then he lifted the gun twelve times and hit an eggshell each time. The boys were struck with wonder on seeing Swamiji’s skill and asked, “well, Sir, how could you do this without any practice?” Vivekananda laughed aloud and said, “Well, well I will tell you the secret. Whatever you may be doing, concentrate all your attention on it. Think of nothing else. If you are shooting, keep your mind only on the target. Your aim will not fail. Concentration can work wonders. Even when you are studying, think of only the lesson in hand. What you read will then be almost printed in your memory.

Activity

Game- Test your listening- the pebble game

• The children shut their eyes. The teacher drops pebbles in a tin box slowly
• A the children’s listening ability and concentration increases, gradually increase the number of pebbles and speed of dropping
• At the end each child can say how many pebbles there were
• Remind the children that they are competing against themselves, and not against each other

Story

Serve man Serve God

Once upon time, there lived a poor, old cobbler named Martin. He had only a few things and just enough food to eat, but he had a kind heart and he loved God. One day, God appeared in his dream and told him that He would visit him the next day. He asked Martin to keep something nice for Him to eat.

Martin got up next morning, and used all his money to buy some vegetables. He made a tasty broth for the Lord and waited. Looking out of the window, Martin saw a poor, old man shivering in the cold outside. Martin gave the old man a blanket and the cup of tea, he had made for himself.

Then came an old woman, nearly fainting with hunger. Martin gave her a part of the warm broth. he had made for God and some fruits. She blessed him and left.

Then he heard a baby crying. Looking out, he saw a poor mother weeping because she had no milk to give her hungry baby. Martin gave her all the milk he had. The child smiled at him after drinking the milk. The mother and baby left.

It was getting dark. Martin was very sad. Now, even if God came, he only had a little cold broth to give Him; not even milk or fruits. He begged God to forgive him. Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside and a strange light entered his room.

In the light, there appeared before him, the shivering old man, the starving old woman and the poor mother with the hungry baby. Then in that beautiful light, Martin heard God’s voice say, “It was I! It was I! It was I!” The light vanished ! Martin was blessed by God because he had served the poor.

Song

Tune – if you are happy and you know it …

Be kind to the poor and needy
Be kind to the poor and needy
When you know that “God lives in all”
Be kind to the poor and needy.

Be punctual throughout your life
Be punctual throughout your life
When you know that “Time is precious”
Be punctual throughout your life.

Be honest in whatever you do
Be honest in whatever you do
When you know that “Honesty is the best policy”
Be honest in whatever you do.

Our 5 mothers are:

• Our own mother (Deha mata)
• Mother Earth (Bhu mata)
• Mother Cow (Gomata)
• Holy books(Veda mata)
• Motherland (Desha mata)

Deha mata

• She has given us birth. She looks after us with great love. We cannot see God but our own mother herself is the form of God before us. She is the embodiment of love, service and sacrifice. Home is the nursery of all virtues and our mother is our first teacher (guru). We owe everything to our mother who has nurtured and nourished us with great love and care. “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

Bhu mata

• Mother earth provides us with food, clothing and shelter. We have a great, wide beautiful and wonderful world, which provides us with everything. Our ancestors were happy and contented with what Mother Earth provided. They realised the importance of preserving and protecting the land, forests and rivers. Unfortunately today, man has too many desires and he is harming Mother Earth by throwing waste and harmful chemicals into the rivers, cutting down trees and killing different types of birds and animals. As a result there are many types of birds and animals, which no longer exist today.

Gomata

• The cow provides us with nourishing milk. We all, especially little children depend upon milk and milk products. The gentle cow also teaches us many values. In return for the grass and waterthat we give her, she provides us with milk. She serves us even after deathas we make use of the cow’s skin(hide) as well as the horns. Cow dung is a good manure. The gentle cow teaches us that service to others should be the goal of our life.

Veda mata

• Our holy, religious books help us to lead a good life. All great religionshave sacred scriptures. They emphasize that in order to reach God we must lead a life of love, service and sacrifice. They also teach us the lesson ‘Help Ever Hurt Never’. They all declare the ‘Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of God’.

Desh mata

• ‘Mother and Motherland are greater than heaven’. Our motherland is the land of our birth. We must be proud to belong to the country in which we are born. We must cherish the noble values and ideals of our country and practice them. We must be ready to make any sacrifice for the sake of our country. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Activity

• identify the Mother
• Gives us knowledge / wisdom
• Become good citizen
• Keep our environment clean
• Symbol of auspiciousness
• Protect the wealth of your country
• The one who knows everything
• Mother of Sita
• Pay your respects / namaskar to her daily
• The one who is with Sri Krishna
• When you respect her it is equal to respecting God