gyanjyoti

This story was narrated to me by my HOD(Head of the department) Maam Mrs Manjula in November 2009. She was motivating us to do well in boards and in life. So here it goes.

Once there was a boy and his mother, who were walking on a road. The boy was curious about life. He asked a lot of questions and irritated his mother.

Further on the road they met a saint. He was in deep meditation. Mother asked her son to go and ask all his doubts about life from the saint as he was a learned man. The boy obeying his mother moved towards the saint.

Suddenly a butterfly flew towards him. He caught it in his hands and closed his fist tightly. The butterfly was completely inside his fists. He kept his hands at the back. Now he greeted saint with respect and asked him, “Sir what do you think is the butterfly in my hands dead or alive?”

The Saint replied “It is in your hands”.

Morale: Saint taught the boy that it was his wish whether to kill the butterfly or let it live. If the saint would have replied that the butterfly is alive, the boy would have killed it by rubbing his hands hard, just to prove him wrong. If the saint would have replied that butterfly is dead, the boy would have simply opened his fists to show that it is still alive.

My Maam conveyed the message to all of us that our lives were in our hands. It is our choice how we want to live it.

This story has been a guiding light for my life and I hope that it can guide all the readers of this article too.