Two Friends

 

There is a very ancient Hindu tale about two brothers. 

Once upon a time, there lived two boys, Madhav and Keshav, in a village. They both came from poor backgrounds and attended school together. Madhav used to chant the Name of The Lord regularly, and was intelligent, helpful and always happy. Keshav was a lazy and unhappy boy, and jealous of Madhav. He would be irritated with Madhav and wished for his downfall.

One day, Madhav was returning from school when he noticed a young boy lying wounded and unconscious in the middle of the road. He at once went to help and carried the boy home. Once home, he cleaned and bandaged his wounds. He then bought some new clothes by borrowing money from his mother and changed the torn ones with the new.

After some time, the boy regained his senses and learned about the timely help from Madhav. He told Madhav about the accident he had had when his horse went wild and threw him off. After he had eaten a good meal cooked by Madhav’s mother, he thanked them and left for home.

The boy was actually a prince. Upon returning to the palace, he described the incident to his father, the king. The next day, the king called Madhav to his palace and thanked him for the help. He showered him with many precious gifts, including fine clothes, money and a beautiful house to live in.

When Keshav heard of this, he was so jealous that he was unable to sleep that night. “I must please the king more than Madhav has done,” was the only thought he had! He wanted to have more and even better gifts than Madhav. He thought that if the king can be pleased with the simple clothes and food that Madhav had given the prince, then a royal robe and fine food would please the king even more.

The next day, Keshav pleaded for a large sum of money from his father. With all the money he now had, Keshav went straight to the market and purchased an expensive robe and fine food for the prince. Then, he went to the king’s palace and offered his gifts to the prince.

The king could not understand why a village boy had presented the gifts to his son, so he asked his wise minister to inquire and advise him on a suitable gift to be given in return. The wise minister had a chat with Keshav and found out that jealousy had prompted Keshav to present the gifts to the prince. He then went to the king and said, “My Lord, you gave expensive gifts to Madhav, the village boy, for the ordinary clothes and food he gave to the prince. So now you may give this boy some ordinary clothes and food in return for his expensive gifts.”

When Keshav saw his ordinary gifts, he was heartbroken and returned home sad and angry. When he asked his father why the king had treated him so unfairly, the father explained that the king had rewarded Madhav for his attitude of selflessness and not because of the things that Madhav had given the prince.

it is wise to see what you have and to hold on to it as precious never measure it against what another has. 

Have a good day.

Out of the mouths of babes.

Oh, Deer.

My determination to do two things before I present myself at the hospital for my ankle operation was to get all of the article's thoughts and meditations written, for my latest book.  I am also aware that I will not be able to hit any golf balls for a few weeks after my operation, so have been trying to play a few extra rounds prior to my date.

Writing this book has taken me back in so many ways to my days as a minister. The subtitle of the book is, "Reflections from a Ministry," so it would do just that. 

This has not always been as simple as it sounds. It has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Memories keep flooding back into my mind and I have had to be careful not to allow them to cloud what it is I am actually working on.

I could not resist sharing these thoughts with you, some I think may have crept in before but they are worthy of a smile or two.

Some of the things children have said over the years in response to questions asked of them.

The first book of the Bible is Guinessis, in which Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.

Noah had a wife, her name was Joan of Ark.

Lot also had a wife who could not have been much fun because she was a pillar of salt.

Samson was a mighty warrior who killed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.

Unleavened bread is very falt because it is made without ingredients.

Moses brought down the ten commandments from the mountain called Mount Cyanide.

Joshua let the Hebrew in the battle of Geritol.

Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.

The 7th commandment is 'Thou shalt not admit adultery.'  

David fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

Solomon has 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

The people who followed Jesus were called the 13 decibels.

The Epistles were the wives of the Apostles.

Paul preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.

A Godly person should have only one wife. This is called monotony.

Have a great day.