Seeking Happiness?

Treasure Within You!!

One night Sri Adi Shankaracharya, was desperately searching for something on the street outside his small hut. When his pupil returned from his errand, he saw this and curiously asked the Master, “Aacharya, what are you looking for here on the street at this hour?”

Shankaracharya  replied, “I lost my needle, I am looking for it.”

The pupil joined him in the search, but after searching for a while, he asked, “Can you try and recollect where you might have dropped it?”
Shankaracharya  said, “Of course, I remember. I dropped it near the bed in the hut.”

The pupil, utterly astonished at the strange answer, said,  “Aacharya, you say you lost it inside the house, then why are we looking for it outside?”
Shankaracharya  innocently replied, “There is no oil left in the lamp, so it is pitch dark inside the house. Hence I thought of searching for it outside, since there is enough street light here.”

While holding back his laugh, the pupil said, “If you lost your needle inside the house, how could you even expect to find it outside?”
Shankaracharya simply smiled back at the pupil and said, “Isn't that what we do? We run to far away objects in the world to look for happiness, which truly exists in our heart in our loving relationship with God. Silly, aren’t we?

Lesson : Light the lamp of devotion to God in your life, and find your happiness right therein.

3 Life lessons from Xi Jing Peng, President of China.

President Xi Jing Peng of China said:

When I was a small child , I was very selfish, always grab the best for myself. Slowly, everyone left me and I had no friends. I didn’t think it was my fault but criticize others.

My father gave me 3 sentences to help me in life.

One day, my father cooked 2 bowls of noodles put the 2 bowls on the table. One bowl has one egg on top and the other bowl does not have any egg on top. He said ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do u want”. Eggs were hard to come by those days! Only get to eat eggs during festivals or New Year. Of Cos I chose the bowl with egg! As we started eating. I was congratulating myself on my wise choice/decisision and wallop up the egg. Then to my surprise as my father ate his noodles, there were TWO eggs at the bottom of his bowl beneath the noodes! I regretted so much! And scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision. My father smiled and sad to me, ”My child. You must remember what your eyes see may not be true. If u intent on taking advantage of people, u will end up losing!”

The next day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles: one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. Again, he put the two bowls on the table and said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do u want?” This time I am smarter. I chose the bowl without any egg on top. To my surprise, as I separated the noodles on top, there was not even a single egg at the bottom of the bowl! Again my father smiled and said to me, ”My child, you must not always rely on experiences cos sometimes, life can cheat u or play tricks on u. But u must not be too annoyed or sad, just treat this as learning a lesson .You cannot Learn this from textbooks.

The third day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles, again one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. He put the 2 bowls on the table and again said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do u want?”. This time, I told my father, ”Dad, u choose first. You are the head of the family and contributed the most to the family. ”My father did not decline and chose the bowl with one egg on top. As I eat my bowl of noodles, Sure in my heart that there is no egg inside the bowl. To my surprise! There were TWO eggs at the bottom of the bowl.

My father smiled at me with love in his eyes, ”My child, u must remember!When u think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to u!”

I always remember these 3 sentences of my father and lived and do my business accordingly. True enough, my business was a roaring success.

Xi Jing Peng