The second fish said, “I have a much more subtle beauty than you have. You look so gaudy! I am much more elegant. And what is more, the lake where I live is far superior to yours!”
The first fish was shocked. “How can your lake be superior to mine? It is so puny and shallow. My lake is as vast and deep as an ocean! Your claims are all exaggeration.”
The second fish began to defend itself in a spirited way. It said, “Your lake has no character. Mine is smaller and more charming. People appreciate it so much. There is really no comparison between my lake and yours!”
The two fish continued bragging and then started fighting about their respective claims. There seemed to be no end to their argument. Finally, one of them had a brilliant idea. It said, “Let us find a judge who will be able to tell us truthfully who is actually the more beautiful and who lives in the nicer lake.”
The fish agreed to go and ask a turtle to be the judge. The turtle said, “Let me hear both sides of the case and then I will decide.”
So they explained everything to the turtle and repeated all their claims. The turtle listened patiently and then said, “All right, before I tell you who is the more beautiful, listen to me carefully.” Then the turtle stretched out its neck and legs and said, “Look at me! God has given me such a beautiful, thick body. My legs are so strong and beautiful. I feel that even God’s Legs may not be as beautiful as mine! And see how long my neck is! Now look at my eyes. I cannot see my eyes, but when I think of them, I know they must be like sparkling jewels. I cannot imagine that there can be anything more beautiful than I in God’s entire creation. Without a doubt, God has made me His most beautiful creation.”
The little fish were aghast. They said to each other, “We chose the turtle to be our judge because we thought that it would be impartial. We thought that it would truthfully be able to proclaim which one of us is more beautiful. We never imagined that the turtle would think of itself as the most beautiful of all God’s creations. Now we have come to learn that everybody has the right to feel that he himself is beautiful and perfect. It is a matter of individual belief.”
Then they said to the turtle, “We shall not go to any other judge. You have really taught us something. We are so grateful to you for illumining us by bragging and bragging about your own beauty. Your self-appreciation is no match for ours, but we have learned something most important about beauty from you. The best thing is for everything in God’s creation to live happily believing that it is the most beautiful of all. Bragging only creates problems which have no solution. Now let us all go back to our own homes and live peacefully.”From:Sri Chinmoy,Amusement I enjoy, enlightenment I study, part 2, Agni Press, 1997
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