The donkey and the rope

A farmer was taking three of his donkeys for sale to the market.

On the way he saw a river and decided to have a dip.

Since he had only two ropes to tie the donkeys to a tree, he looked around wondering how to tie  the third one.
He saw a sage and sought his help if he could give him a rope to tie the third donkey. The sage did not have a rope but had a suggestion.

He told the farmer, “let the third donkey see you tying the other two donkeys to a tree.  Then  you pretend to tie this one also”.

The farmer did as he was told and went for a dip in the river. Coming back, he thanked the sage and saw that the donkeys stood exactly at the same spot where he had left them.

He untied the two donkeys and patted the third one to start moving. After going a little distance, imagine his surprise when the third donkey stood still at the same spot.

Cajoling, kicking or talking did not help with the donkey, refusing to move from the spot. The farmer went back to sage, who told him, “untie the third donkey”.
“But”, protested the farmer, “I have not tied him”. The sage asked, “You know it. But does the donkey know that?”

Sure enough the farmer went back and pretended to untie the donkey. The donkey moved immediately as though released and walked over to join the other two donkeys.

Moral of the story:

We are all, also tied up by too many  imaginary ropes…… which are really non-existent. The only truth is there are no boundaries in real life and anyone can stretch to any extent. Don’t we all see records being broken, every time, everywhere and every day?
Our mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except with our permission. Hence as we go along this day let us see what we can do with our minds.

CONTRIBUTED by
Sh Vineet ji

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

contributed by
Mrs Shruti Chhabra