MORALS

LESSON 1 - DON'T BE MISCHIEVOUS) David loved to read ghost stories. Every time he paid a visit to the library, he got back a teeth- chattering horror tale. It was a signal that he was getting ready to play a scary trick on his friends. He was 11 years old. His parents had learnt to recognise the signs now. The days on which the slim boy's cocker spaniel eyes shone brighter than ever, and his brown wavy hair seemed to have a movement of their own, they knew that he must have read a ghost tale and was hatching a plot to scare. The problem was that David loved reading and so he did lot of scaring too. But he was liked for his funny jokes and his helpful nature, so no one really minded. Though a few friends had often thought of making him feel a sense of fear. Fear that was very different from sitting in bed with a whole lot of snacks, bedsheet pulled up to the chin and reading a story for the pleasure of its thrills. One day David's friend Ravi asked him to come to his house after school. David's mom and dad said, he could go but they told him to come home before dark. "Remember, now," said his dad, "You'll have to walk home through the park." (something about the park....) Promising he'd leave early, David set off for his friend's house. He had a great time reading stories and looking the pictures in some of Ravi exciting monster books. Time flew by and when David looked up he saw it was pitch dark. "Oh no!" he gasped. "I have to get home!" David began to walk along the path through the park that had fallen eerily silent. How dark it was! Why couldn't the park officials put some lights? And then remembered that most of the park lights had been broken by them during their inter-locality cricket matches. In fact, if a boy succeeded in breaking a park light with a soaring sixer, hewas considered a hero! Now it didn't seem a bright idea any more. Especially when the chirping sound of the crickets had become deafening. If someone came up behind him, he wouldn't be able to hear their footsteps. And then he heard that noise. It came from behind. "Guess what I can do with my long bony finger and my long pointed teeth?" David yelped and started to run, but the pounding footsteps followed him. Finally, out of breath, he stopped and asked in a quavering voice: "Who's there?" It was a human voice. But all he heard was the voice saying: "Guess what I can do with my long bony finger and my long pointed teeth?" David started running again. The footsteps followed behind him. Once more he stopped and asked, "Who's there?" "Guess what I can do with my long bony finger and my long pointed teeth?" Again the same thing. Why couldn't he say something else! Poor David took to his heels again. As usual, when he got a stitch in his stomach he stopped and asked, "Look, who is it?" "Guess what I can do with my long bony finger and my long pointed teeth?" David ran down the path and found himself at his doorstep. But it was locked! And the footsteps were right behind him. With no more strength left in him, David stood there and asked, "Who's there?" "Guess what I can do with my long bony finger and my long pointed teeth?" David gulped and gathered his last bit of courage to ask, "Who are you and what can you do with your long bony finger and your long pointed teeth?" BmBmBmBmBmBm...Hahahahahahaahhaha went the monster. David closed his ears and eyes and sat on his doorstep in fear. Then he opened his left eye a teeny weeny bit. The monster was right before him. He seemed to be wearing black trousers turned up at the end, as was fashionable. As his climbed up eyes the ghost's figure, he got a shock. It was his father! "David, did I not tell you to come home before dark?" said dad. "You did, daddy," sniffed David. "Well, I thought I would sneak up on you and give you a scare for a change, just like others after reading one of your horror tales!" said David's dad. you do to David looked at his father for a long time. And then they went inside the house making monster noises. Moral - Never play tricks with people to irritate them. (LESSON 2 - MANAGE YOUR TIME) Rohit had many hobbies. He also wanted to do well in his studies. He loved to play tennis and went for swimming too. He used to go for tennis practice in the morning. For that he had to catch an early bus. Then he would come back home, have bath, breakfast and then go to school. In the afternoon, he came back home and then there was Maths tuition, swimming classes, guitar lessons on alternate days. He also loved to play with his friends, watch television and play games on the computer. On top of that he had to complete his homework. Oh! What a handful for a child so young who was just studying in the eighth standard. There were days when he could not get time to do his homework. His teachers would scold him. Sometimes he could not complete his work given in tuition, then his mother and his tuition teacher scolded him. Sometimes, he got so busy playing with his friends that he missed his Maths tuition. One day he was so tired that his body refused to move when he woke up in the morning. He went off to sleep. When he got up, it was already past his school time. He had to miss the school. His mother scolded him a lot. Rohit felt really sad. He did not do it intentionally. He just felt too tired to get up that day. In the evening, his grandmother came to visit them. Rohit was very fond of his granny. He חנו asked her, "Nani, can you help me? I want to do so many things but I do not have enough time to do them all" Grandmother sat with him and asked him to make a list of all the things that he wants to do. He divided the list into three parts-the first part had things which he had to do every day. The second list had those things which he had to do during weekend only and the third list had those things which he liked to do when he got bored. Rohit listed all his jobs under these three lists. Homework, getting things ready for school, tennis and swimming practice, ruition, polishing shoes and doing some household jobs went into the first list. Reading story books, playing with friends, tidying book shelves, watching television and doing extra studies went into the second list. Painting, playing video games, going for movies, picnics went into the third list. Grandmother said to Rohit, "Now that you know your priorities, you can make your time table accordingly. Make two time tables-one for the school days and one for the weekends. Then follow them well. Also make sure that you do not put too many activities in them otherwise you may not be to follow them." So the two of them made a time table for Rohit. The next day Rohit followed the time rable completely. This went on for a week. By the end of the week, he found that nobody scolded him and he did not feel tired either. Now everyone was happy and Rohit was also happy and satisfied. Moral - Time and tide waits for nobody (LESSON 3- THE FLYING BOX) Once upon a time, in the town of Mumbai there lived a merchant called Ajay Verma. When he was born, his family was very poor. But Ajay Verma was very hardworking Morning to evening he tried his best to earn money. He succeeded too. He became extremely rich. But Ajay Verma was very careful about his money. He did not spend even a paisa unnecessarily. If there was expenditure, he always asked, "By spending this money, what will I get in return? Will it be useful tome?" He had a son called Mohan. After along time, Ajay died. All his money came to Mohan, Mohan did not know the value of money. He spent it unnecessarily. Lot of people gathered around him. They praised Mohan so much that he gave them whatever they asked for. Soon Mohan lost all the money his father gave him. He became so poor, that he did not have anything to eat. At that time a close friend of Ajay gifted a big box to Mohan. Mohan thought that it will contain lot of money. So he wanted to open and see it. But as soon as he opened, a carpet came out of it. It asked Mohan, "Master, where can I take you?." Mohan told the carper, "Anywhere, where there is food." The carpet then went inside the box and asked Mohan to sit on the box. As soon as Mohan sat on the box, it started flying. It took him to the town of Gangtok, where food was in plenty, Mohan ate whatever he wanted and became happy. Again Mohan, opened the box. The carpet again came out. It asked him, "Master, where can I take you?" Mohan replied, "I want to earn money. So please take me to a place where I can earn money without much effort." The carpet went into the box. Mohan sat on the box and it took him to the town of Mysore. Mohan, enquired from people there about earning money easily. They told him, "It is easy over here. is a closed palace. Inside there is a princess. She has a lot of money. She will give it to a person whom she likes." Then Mohan h Gupta opened the box and ordered it to take him near princess was very surprise cosee Mohan. She asked him, "Who are you? and what do you want?" Mohan replied, "I am from Mumbai. I want to carn money without working" The princess replied, "That is very easy. I have a lot of money. But my parents will permit me to give this money to you, if you tell them a story If they like it, then they will ask me to give you as much money as you want, two days later, in the town hall." Mohan said, "That is very casy: will come again when your parents are there." Next day Mohan came again to the palace of the princess. Her parents were also there. They told him, "Our daughter told us about you. We are feeling very bored here. If you tell us a good story, we will ask her to give as much money as you want." Mohan then started telling a story. There was a very big house in Peking It belonged to a rich man. The rich man and his family had gone for a picnic. Only the house maid was there. She had also gone out to see her friend. At that time all the things in the kitchen were getting bored. The march box which was near the iron pot started talking, "Hey iron pot. You look so black. I think, you must be from a poor family." The iron pot replied, "Are you from a rich family? Let us hear your story?" The match box replied, "In the rich forest of Himalayas there stood a very great pine tree. All round it were much smaller trees. All the other small trees, called the pine tree as the "King tree." The king tree grew very big. One day, a merchant from Mumbai came to that forest. He saw the pine tree. He purchased the pine tree and cut it into pieces. The big piece from the trunk was made in to a ship. The smaller pieces were used to build a big house in Mumbai. The smallest pieces were cut uniformly. A red cap was attached to them. We are those pieces with a crown. The king sticks from a king tree." Then the iron pot replied, "That is very interesting, I will tell you my story. There was a big village in Bihar called Jharia. Some people from the town went there. They could easily find out that all the rocks of Jharia were iron. So they brought lot of such stones. They crushed and washed all those stones. Then those people started burning those stones. From those came out iron. Then they made iron in to liquid. I was made from that liquid. I think I too am rich like you." The window curtain of the kitchen, who heard these two stories started talking, "How interesting! My case is very different. There was no burning or cutting in my case. In the small town of Coimbatore, a farmer planted a black seed. From it came the cotton plant. The farmer put lot of manure to this plant. It bore bright yellow flowers. After some time, these flowers became cotton bolls. These bolls dried and burst one day. Out of it my parents, the cotton flew out. The farmer collected all the cotton and then made me." Suddenly they heard a very loud laugh. This was from whole kitchen. Many things stored in boxes, many vegetables and many fruits stored in the refrigerator started laughing. They all together told, "We have been hearing your story. But we are all different. We grew in different fields all over India. The farmer harvested us separately and packed them in big bags. Such bags were purchased by the merchants. They then packed us in small bags. We were then sold to the master of this house. We are not expecting anything pleasant. We were afraid that, they will light the stove and boil us. Once we are to their liking they will cat us." When all the materials in the kitchen were telling their stories, the maid suddenly entered. It was already dark. So she took matchbox and lit the only remaining stick. Work started in the kitchen. All the materials in the kitchen became silent. They were not feeling bored now. The parents of the princess liked this story very much. They told the princess. "You can give as much as he wants. But it would be after two days and in the town hall exactly at 5 pm. If he does not come at that time, he will not get any money." Mohan thanked them. He went round many places on his box. He wanted to entertain the people of Mysore. So he brought a lot of fire crackers from Shivakasi. On the day when the princess came out of the palace and went to the town hall. Mohan went to the top of a Chamundi hill and started burning all the crackers. The people of Mysore were very happy to see the wonderful display. Mohan became very proud. But unfortunately the box and the carpet got burnt by the fireworks. Mohan started running towards Mysore. He could not reach the town hall before 5 pm. The princess and her parents again went back to the locked palace. Poor Mohan started working hard everyday. After a lot of time he too became as rich as his father. Moral - there is no shortcut to success. (LESSON 4 - DO GOOD) Once there lived a very wealthy businessman. However, even though he had lots of money, he was a scrooge. He never spent a single penny for charity, he would wear worn out shoes and tattered clothes. No matter what happened, he would not spend any money on himself or anyone else around him. One day he fell gravely ill. Due to his sickness he was bedridden and no one could come to visit him. Due to his nature, his family did not want anything to do with him and everyone in town despised him. However, he did have one friend, his personal tailor. He would spend countless hours with the tailor, not to buy new clothes, but bragging about all the money he had acquired. But the tailor could not help the rich man because the tailor soon passed away. The wealthy businessman felt his days slipping away without his friend. Finally, his tailor family members came to see him for the first and last time. The tailor's son had also come. The rich man said to the boy, "It is certain that I will not last much longer on Earth. My moment to rise to marg (heaven) has come." The young boy was very wise for his age. He knew that the businessman was obsessed with wealth and riches his whole life. It was because of this reason that he had lost the love and respect of his family and the town's folk. So he told his father's friend, "Sir, my father is already in marg. He had often told me that he wished to sew rich garments for God. But he forgot to take his needle with him. Will you please take this needle with you and give it to him?" The boy took out a single sewing needle and handed it to the dying businessman. "Oh yes, my boy," replied the businessman. "I will happily do that for you." The rich man was ready to do anything for the only friend he had his whole life as long as it did not involve giving anything. So he took the needle and started to think, "Where shall I place this needle? Should I pin it in my shirt? No, my clothes will burn away in the funeral fire. May be I can place it in my mouth." No, my whole mouth will be burn to ashes. Then how will I take this needle to swarg? The more he thought about it the more confused he became. He called the boy back and said, "Please take your needle back, I will not be able to take it with me to swarg The boy remarked, "But if you are going to take your millions of rupees with you to swarg, then what problem will there be in taking a small needle?" You can easily take it too. The wealthy businessman's spiritual eyes opened. He realised that none of his wealth or property would accompany him after death. He prayed to God for forgiveness and promised to use all his wealth for charity and others. God heard his prayers and cured him of his illness. True to his word, the businessman built grand temples, and fed and comforted thousands of less fortunate people. Moral - The way you can store up treasure in heaven is by investing in getting people here. (LESSON 5 - MOTHER'S LOVE) Once Mann Vir set out on a visit to the forests on the India-Tibet border. He stayed at a village for the night, and in the morning, walked to the thick hilly forest. As he walked in the forest for long, he felt hungry and tired, so he settled down under a pine tree, with his back resting against its thick trunk and began to enjoy his lunch, which a villager had packed for him. He had hardly taken a few morsels when he heard soft, feeble growls. He was afraid that it was a bear. The faint growl meant that the bear was still quite far away. He quickly closed his tiffin box and crouched low, so that the smell of food was not carried by the strong breeze to the wild brute. He took up his long bamboo staff, with its pointed iron end, in his right hand and a big double-edged knife in his left. He crawled carefully to the edge of the mountain and looked down into the deep, narrow valley. Soon his eyes caught sight of two tiny, snow leopard cubs on a small, flat piece of land, on the slope of the opposite mountain. Their fluffy, snow-white, furry coats blended perfectly with the snow. Their green, shining eyes looked like small bright lamps. The cubs were playing. Each crouched on the snow, chin touching the ground, leaving a fair distance in between, rolling their lovely green eyes at each other. Then one would jump on the other. They would wrestle for a while, growling softly. They would crouch again and wrestle again. It seemed as if they were practising the hunting lesson given to them by their mother. It was fun watching them for Mann Vir, but he was worried too. He was worried because the mother leopard could not be seen anywhere. He had heard from the hill people that the mother snow leopard is very ferocious when she has cubs, Food is scarce in those snowy mountains and wild cats, foxes and bears are always on the lookout for a prey. So, the mother snow leopard keeps her cubs hidden in caves and in big holes till they are old enough to fight and defend themselves. Mann Vir was alert, looking all around, in case the mother leopard was around. Soon, he saw a strange thing. A huge black bear came out from behind a cluster of leafless trees and moved slowly towards the cubs. Then, to his horror and surprise, a massive white cat, the mother snow leopard, appeared on the mountain on which Mann Vir was lying. She was a little distance away from him, down on the slope. Mann Vir was lucky because all her attention was fixed on her cubs. There was a deep, narrow crevice between the mountains. Within moments, the mother leopard sprang up into the air and landed straight on the bear's back. She seized the bear and shook him hard. The bear, taken by surprise, lost his balance. The fierce, wild beasts went rolling down the snowy slope, tumbling on one another, till they landed in the narrow valley with a loud Mann Vir craned his neck, so did the two frightened cubs on the opposite mountain. The bear stood up on his hind legs and stretched out his big paws with strong, sharp nails jutting out. He bared his teeth and growled, determined to fight to the last. The mother snow leopard looked at him for a second, snarled and with a leap pinned down the black brute. The whole valley echoed with the sounds of their fight. The cubs growled loudly too, crying for their mother. Oh, the duel they fought was terrible. The snow leopard was quick and jumped about from side to side tearing away big pieces of black furry skin of the bear. The bear, being bulky and slow, seldom managed to injure the leopard. The fight continued for about ten minutes. The bear was bleeding heavily. Whenever the leopard attacked, the bear lifted his huge paws to cover his face, exposing his body to the attack. They both moved further and further till they disappeared around the huge mountain. For some time, Mann Vir could not see them but could hear the growls and snarls. Soon, all was calm and quiet once again. The mother leopard reappeared and ran up to her cubs. She smelt them over and over again, perhaps to make sure that they were not hurt by the bear and then she licked them. Soon after, the three climbed up the mountain and disappeared. He could not see what happened to the bear, if he was killed or made to flee. Mann Vir stayed in that position for some more time to make sure that the family had left for good. He stood up with stiff legs recollecting how ferocious a mother can be if her children come under attack. Moral - A mother can even risk her life for her child's. (LESSON 6 - LEARN TO GIVE ) Once an old woman lived in a village. She was about seventy years old. She was frail and weak. Even her eyesight had become very weak. She has lost her only son Ramu due to malaria. The nearest hospital from her village was ten kilometers away. She could not take her seriously ill son to the hospital at time. The villagers had requested the doctor to come and treat Ramu in the village but he had bluntly refused. The villagers decided to carry Ramu on a makeshift bed to the hospital. But alas! It was too late. Ramu died on the way to the hospital. The old woman was left with no one to look after her. So she decided to grow vegetables in her small plot of land and sell them in the market. She wanted to support herself with whatever money she earned by selling the vegetables. Every morning she used to carry a basket of vegetables on her head and proceed towards the market. On the way, she had to cross a small stream and even climb a small hill before reaching the market located on the other side of the hill. She had to walk almost three kilometres daily. One morning, as usual, she was proceeding towards the market with her vegetables. A traveller was walking behind her. When she reached the stream, shefelt thirsty. She kept the basket on the ground and filled her palms with water to drink. Suddenly she saw something shining in the water. She picked it up. Initially, she thought, "How can it be stone? It is shining. It is a piece of gold! I am sure about it. Even in this old age and poor eyesight, I can vecognise gold. I thank You God for helping me. I sell this gold piece in the market and make a lot of money" While she was thinking so, the traveller came near her and enquired if she was okay. The woman showed him the piece of gold. The traveller recognised it immediately. He said, "Old lady, do you know that this is a piece of gold? What will you do with it?" The woman replied, "Yes, I know it is gold. I will sell it in the market". The traveller said, "Okay, do sell it. The money thus earned will help you spend the rest of your life comfortably. By the way, can you give me some of your carrots, tomatoes and radishes to eat? I am very hungry." The woman obliged. In the afternoon when she was returning, saw the man sitting beside the stream. She went near and asked him, "What is the matter? What are you doing here?" The man replied, "I am waiting for my friend. Did you sell the gold?" The woman replied, "I will sell it some day. I am not in a hurry." At this, the man said, "You are so old, you will die. However, I am young now. I will live for many years, if you give me the gold I can sell it and utilise the money in establishing my business. Can you give the gold to me?" Without any hesitation, the woman handed over the gold to the traveller. The traveller was stunned as he was only testing her. He asked curiously, "What do you have within you which enabled you to part even with y n your gold?" The old woman replied with a smile, "The joy of giving" The man set up his own business and flourished. He took the old lady to his mansion and treated her like his mother. Moral - Help the needy and God will help you.