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| Photo courtesy: http://p4.storage.canalblog.com |
I have read this story long back. Once a group of asura (demons) asked
Lord Vishnu (Supremacy), “Why have you given special authority to Gods and not
to us? Since there is nothing they can do and we cannot, we demand equal respect
and status. “
Lord Vishnu heard to their plea and decided to invite all Gods and Demons together on lunch to talk about the matter. The date was decided, and both Gods and Demons reached the venue. Since Demons and Gods are enemies, hence they were seated in different rooms for lunch. Lord Vishnu welcomed them both. He asked them to tie wooden logs on their elbows during lunch, if they want to know why Gods are given higher status than them. They agreed. Demons picked up their bite but their hands couldn’t reach their mouth because the logs didn't allow their elbows to bend. For some minutes they kept on trying to eat something but all in vain. None of them could succeed. After half an hour Lord Vishnu entered their room to ask them if they liked their food but saw all the demons red in anger. Their logs were broken, food was spilled around. They were fighting with each other in frustration as in an attempt to eat something some of them had accidentally hit the other. Looking at lord Vishnu, all of them asked aloud with angry eyes, “Did you call us here to insult us?”
To which lord Vishnu smiled and asked them to follow him calmly to another room. Lord Vishnu took them in the room where Gods were eating. Demons were surprised to see that they had divided themselves in teams of two and were feeding bites in each others’ mouths. They were enjoying their food and the room was filled with peace and love.
Lord Vishnu said, “Dear demons may be now you know where you lag behind from Gods.”
All the demons, in shame, went back to their homes.
We can be either like those Demons or Gods. We can become totally selfish, thinking about our good, our comfort, ourselves and ignoring the other person. And in long run remain dissatisfied, unattended and isolated. Or we can give love and get love in return like Gods. The one who works selflessly never walks alone.
Isn’t life all about living for each other and enjoying pleasure in giving!
Lord Vishnu heard to their plea and decided to invite all Gods and Demons together on lunch to talk about the matter. The date was decided, and both Gods and Demons reached the venue. Since Demons and Gods are enemies, hence they were seated in different rooms for lunch. Lord Vishnu welcomed them both. He asked them to tie wooden logs on their elbows during lunch, if they want to know why Gods are given higher status than them. They agreed. Demons picked up their bite but their hands couldn’t reach their mouth because the logs didn't allow their elbows to bend. For some minutes they kept on trying to eat something but all in vain. None of them could succeed. After half an hour Lord Vishnu entered their room to ask them if they liked their food but saw all the demons red in anger. Their logs were broken, food was spilled around. They were fighting with each other in frustration as in an attempt to eat something some of them had accidentally hit the other. Looking at lord Vishnu, all of them asked aloud with angry eyes, “Did you call us here to insult us?”
To which lord Vishnu smiled and asked them to follow him calmly to another room. Lord Vishnu took them in the room where Gods were eating. Demons were surprised to see that they had divided themselves in teams of two and were feeding bites in each others’ mouths. They were enjoying their food and the room was filled with peace and love.
Lord Vishnu said, “Dear demons may be now you know where you lag behind from Gods.”
All the demons, in shame, went back to their homes.
We can be either like those Demons or Gods. We can become totally selfish, thinking about our good, our comfort, ourselves and ignoring the other person. And in long run remain dissatisfied, unattended and isolated. Or we can give love and get love in return like Gods. The one who works selflessly never walks alone.
Isn’t life all about living for each other and enjoying pleasure in giving!
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| S is for Selfishness and Selflessness, Story on April 21 A to Z challenge |
Nice post Shesha. Life is all about sharing and caring. One thing to notice here - it was a two sided sharing. It is selfishness if it is one sided greed. Good one
ReplyDeleteThankyou Shine! I am glad you liked it :)
DeleteThat's a wonderful story you shared and I agree... For a society to move up... One has to help others to move up too.
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton Raj! Absolutely- we humans are dependent on each other too! No one can progress far alone!
Deleteah dat was a wonderful story to start my day with :-) beautifully penned shesha
ReplyDeletehttp://swathishenoy.blogspot.in/2014/04/s-for-surprise.html?m=1
a-z participant
Its delighting Swathi that you enjoyed this post :)
Deleteneither Selfishness attributes to Demons NOR Selflessness belongs to GODs...there are many other stories which represent these 2 elements in both demons & gods.
ReplyDeleteI think we are human who dwell between Selfishness and Selflessness ....But why we try to be god/demon....aint we happy just being human?? the point here is to consider the SELF
Praatibh there are stories that give us moral lessons! You are right we dwell between Selfishness and Selflessness, but I feel our aim is to attain those perfections and good traits and get rid of bad ones! While considering SELF, we should feed our souls with good deeds, making Self a better human!
DeleteThis story has got me thinking !
ReplyDeleteNice post !
That was a wonderful and a very inspiring story, Shesha! ♥
ReplyDeleteThey say it is impossible to be both selfish and happy!!
Thankyou so much Shilpa.... I agree with you- A selfish person stays isolated in long run!
DeleteWonderful story.... :) :)
ReplyDelete~S(t)ri
Participant|AtoZ Challenge 2014
Smile, it makes (y)our day!
I am glad Sri that you liked the story :)
DeleteThis is quite thought provoking
ReplyDeleteS for Safe-Random Thoughts Naba
Thankyou Naba! :)
DeleteHave heard this story many times but u made it refreshing with your art of story telling. Sharing is actually a therapy which can heal a lot of wounds we encounter in our life. It fills in the gap and makes us feel happy and content.
ReplyDeleteYes Hemant, I got this in my mind when I thought about the letter 'S'! Thankyou so much for your warm comment :)
DeleteAnother good one Shesha. Such a cool way of expressing. Love the lesson.
ReplyDeleteThankyou Inderpreet! I am glad you liked the post!
DeleteExcellent story! There are a few other like this illustrating this point. I so love how our ancestors could come up with such wonderfully creative stories to help us learn some deep lessons. Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad you liked the story! Yes there are so many stories and so many moral lessons that help us in becoming a better human! Thank you so much!
DeleteThis post has been selected for the Tangy Tuesday Picks this week. Thank You for an amazing post! Cheers! Keep Blogging :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton Team BlogAdda! This is overwhelming :)
Delete