Some just short stories... Some related to proverbs and quotes that we have all grown up with, which I thought of writing down in my own words ... Some based on our Hindu culture and epic... some with my own personal experience and some from others...
The students sat in front of the Guru in a circle. Guru was sitting silent in meditation.
"What do you wish to learn today?", he asked.
"Guruji, yesterday you said that we should be prepared to take risks in life, provided we have faith without fear. What does Faith got to do with Risk Taking ability, Guruji? If I am taking risk, then why should I have faith? In whom? What does fear got to do with risk and faith?"
Guru smiled and started telling them a story.
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Once, a Guru and his two disciples were passing through a jungle. The guru took them to a place where there was a deep hole in the ground.
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The guru asked them "What do you see?"
"Its a very deep hole. Its too dark, guruji. Can't see anything. Its scary", asnwered the 1st disciple.
"I have never seen anything like this, guruji. How far does it go down?", asked the 2nd disciple.
"Come. Find out for yourself". Saying so, the guru jumped into the hole.
The two disciples stood frozen for a second, looking at the dark hole the guruji has jumped in.
"What just happened? What do we do now?", asked the 1st disciple, in horror.
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"Guruji asked us to jump. He has already gone in. We should also jump", answered the 2nd disciple.
"Are you mad? He must have been training this stunt for a long time. We don't have any training. If we jump, we might get hurt. Worse, we might even lose our lives", said the 1st disciple.
"Sure, Guruji must have been training for a long time. But he also must have hurt his limbs the first time! If he has survived, we too will survive. I have faith in him. If he has asked us to jump now, which means he knows that we will reach down there safely. I am taking the risk of survival. I am jumping in. Even if I get hurt, my guru will be there to heal me". Saying so, he jumped inside the deepest hole on earth.
The other disciple, clouded with fear, seeing the disciple sinking into the hole unbelievably. He stood on the ground, contemplating how to pass the jungle without the guiding guru and a fellow student for company.
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"How was the story? What did you understand from the story?" The guruji was back with his moral question.
"Guruji, Risk taking needs Faith to achieve the goal. The faith should be in yourself, as well as on the goal you wish to achieve", answered one student.
"But Fear can stop both Faith and Risk-taking by clouding the mind with doubts", answered another.
