A man was once living through forest. All at once he saw a wild elephant charging at him. Finding no other means of escape jumped in to a nearby well. He clung to a tree growing therein.
After some he glanced downwards. He was stunned. There was a terrible crocodile eagerly waiting for the man’s fall. When he again looked up, he found that from the tree, drops of honey were trickling down from a beehive. He forgot the fear and started drinking the honey. But he was jolted to see another strange thing. The root of the tree to which he was clinging was being eaten by two rats- a white one and a black one.
This is one of Tolstoy’s stories. He wants to say that life is very short and precarious. One is heading to one’s death every moment. Worldly pleasure is momentary. The story is an allegory. Here the elephant represents time, crocodile represents death and the drops of honey are pleasures of life while the white and black rats are day and night.
The writer wants to impress upon us the fact that a man is aware if the life’s transitory nature but he is still hankering after its elusive pleasures.
One has a short span of life and one should not waste it in petty pursuits. One should realize this fact lest one should repent when time has run out.
Real happiness lies in making life pure and pious, to follow the path of righteousness and to be kind to the poor and the deprived. As you sow you sow, so shall you reap. If you give love and kindness to others, the same will return to you making your life more peaceful and contented. Love begets love. Always think of others’ welfare. Do unto others as you want them to do to you. Life is short and we should not postpone practicing these things. We should start doing the right thing here and now.
What is that which illuminates the soul? It is the truth. Truth illuminates our life, it illuminates our virtues. It increases our faith in life. A person, who was no Faith in life, cannot be respected by others. There is no virtue with out truth. Dear student, always stick to truth and follow the path of righteousness. Truth gives peace of mind and inner strength by which we can face bravely the ups and downs of life. We are as near to god as we are to truth. Truth is a short cut to god.
Liberality is another name of humanity. A miser lives only in his own egg-shell pride is a sin which blinds us to the good points of other people. Infact the foundation stone of this world is God’s love. It is His love which sustains us. Had nature been not kind, there would have been no life on this planet. The merciful nature in her various ways showers her blessings of immense value on mankind. The sun, the moon, the clouds and the vegetation never tire of showing kindness to human beings. Nature never discriminates between the rich and the poor, between the high and the low. It is man’s narrow –mindedness that he has created petty barriers between man and man. Humanity is one and indivisible. Lord Christ beautifully said, ``we are bound to gather in a bundle of life’’. Therefore shun pride and narrow-mindedness. By being proud we do not become `big’ and by being liberal we do not become `small’. Thereby, we simply become `human beings’. Therefore discover yourself and be human.
Hatred is poison and it is doubly cursed. It harms one who nurses it and also one against whom it is nursed. Therefore learn to sink hatred in the ocean of love. The spring of love instantly opens to us the moment we reflect that we are all the children of god. Our differences of color, caste and religion are only outer things. In all of us dwells the same divine light Almighty god pervades the entire universe. He runs the entire universe. This is the essence of entire knowledge and with out this realization the entire knowledge is of no avail.