The feeling of humility

This is an authentic story. There was an extremely great spiritual Master whose sincerity was most admirable. From time to time, he could not meditate to his satisfaction. So, in order to meditate well and reach his own highest height, he did something unique: he used to get up from the place where he was meditating and look for somebody of the lowest caste — a sweeper or cobbler — and then he would go and embrace that person. He himself came of a Brahmin family, which is the highest caste. After embracing that person, he would return to his place of meditation and enter into his absolutely highest meditation.

Sometimes he did something else. He would rise from his meditation spot and find somebody who was very unspiritual and unaspiring. Then he would fall flat at that person’s feet. Afterwards, he would return home and once more have a very deep meditation.

Why did he do this? Because it gave him a feeling of humility. For years and years he had meditated so well that pride had entered into him. His mind had literally become a pride-desert. So, in order to regain his highest meditation-height, either he would embrace a lower caste individual or he would fall at the feet of someone whom he had considered to be undivine to the extreme. He felt that when humility enters into the mind, one’s meditation immediately becomes both high and deep.

This is so true. Here in the West there is no caste system, but there are various other ways to feel humility and to reach your highest meditation.

If you consider someone in your spiritual family to be infinitely less spiritual than you are, then try to feel or think of your Master’s compassion and our Lord Beloved Supreme’s Compassion in tolerating that particular person on the spiritual path. That person, according to you, may be the worst possible disciple. You may absolutely deplore the undivine qualities that he or she embodies. But if you can imagine the Compassion-Tears of the Supreme for that particular person, and if you can become one with those Tears, immediately you will be identified with the Compassion of the Supreme. At that time, you will find that your meditation has once more become very high and deep. Why? Because the Supreme’s Compassion-Tears for that other person, which you are imagining and also identifying with, are also entering into you. They are entering into your mind, which is not aspiring on that particular day, and into your wrong, undivine thoughts.

There is another way which, at one time, Swami Vivekananda tried. That way is to remember your three highest meditations. If you have been following the spiritual path for many years, by this time I am sure you have had high meditations on many occasions. Consciously recall to mind the three times in your life that were absolutely the highest. Imagine the particular day, the place where you sat and how you meditated. Remember what you felt in your heart and in your entire being. Enter into the joy that you are imagining.

Then concentrate on that imagination. Take your imagination as a material object that is right in front of you. Make your imagination into a tennis ball or something small that you can keep right in front of your eyes. You do not have to keep your eyes open; only concentrate, concentrate!

In a few minutes, I assure you, you will be able to reach your highest meditation — but only if you want to. There are many days, even months and years, when you do not want to have your highest meditation. You go to the meditation hall, but you allow yourself to think of other human beings, or what you are going to eat, or what happened on the previous day. Countless times you have not had the eagerness to do your best meditation.

If one day you really want to do your best meditation but, for some reason, are unable to, then you can try what I have said. If you have sincerity and eagerness, then definitely you can bring forward your best meditation with your imagination, for imagination is a reality in its own right.

A mother's heart

There was a rich woman who came from a very prominent family. One day the woman entered into the kitchen to get some milk for her child. There she saw her two daughters striking the maid mercilessly. “We have caught her stealing milk,” they explained.

The maid was crying pitifully. “I also have a little child. My child is five years old and today I do not have any milk for him. If I take this milk home, then I will be able to feed my child this evening. Otherwise, he will have nothing.”

When the rich woman heard this, she became furious with her daughters. She said, “What are you doing to our poor maid? How can you beat her? I am a mother and she is also a mother. You know how much I care for your little brother. Soon he will start crying for his milk. If this maid takes his milk, my heart will break that I have no milk to give him.

“But this maid also has a heart for her child, and if she cannot give him milk, she too will feel miserable. So I am ready to give her the milk. I know that I can easily send you to the market to buy more milk to replace what she has taken. But she does not have money enough to buy fresh milk, or perhaps she will not have the opportunity to buy it on her way home after work. So let her have the milk. She needs it much more than I do.

“If we want to make ourselves happy, we have to renounce our own desires and always make other people happy first. By allowing her to take the milk, I shall be infinitely happier than if I punish her for stealing.”

This compassionate woman was the mother of the spiritual Master in the previous story.

The saint's humility

Once there was a saint who had quite a few disciples. His disciples loved and adored him from the very depths of their hearts. One day, the saint was meditating all alone at the foot of a tree. While he was in deep trance, a man approached him. This man was full of pride and haughtiness. He kicked the saint and commanded him to get up. Since the saint’s trance was broken, he stood up.

The man placed a heavy load on the saint’s shoulders and said, “Today my servants are not available. It is beneath my dignity to carry this heavy load myself, so you have to do it for me. I can clearly see that you are just a lazy fellow. You were only sleeping under the tree. Anyway, I shall give you some money and afterwards you can have a nice meal.”

The saint most obediently followed the man and carried the load to the destination, which was the man’s home. The man told him, “Wait here until I come back. Then I will give you some money and food.” So saying, the man went inside the house.

The saint stayed there, not because he wanted money, but because he was extremely tired from carrying such a heavy load and he needed rest.

In the meantime, the saint’s disciples were looking for their Master. They had not found him in his usual position at the foot of the tree, so they had begun searching for him here, there and everywhere. Eventually they found him in the next village sitting by the roadside outside a large house.

They asked, “Master, what are you doing here?”

At that very moment, the man emerged from his house and said, “What are all you people doing here outside my house? This man is my servant. He has just carried a heavy load for me and he did a very good job.”

When the disciples heard these words, they became furious and rushed to attack the man. The saint shouted at them, “What are you doing? What are you doing? Do not hurt this man! God wanted me to have more humility. Therefore, I have carried his load cheerfully. God wanted me to shine bright, brighter, brightest. To my sorrow, I am not physically strong, so I am totally exhausted. But in a few minutes’ time, I will regain my strength and go back with you.”

Even after hearing the saint’s humble and compassionate words, the haughty man showed no remorse. The saint’s disciples said to the man, “You are a real scoundrel. Just because we are obedient to our Master, we are not going to thrash you. But we could easily do so.”

The man got frightened and ran indoors. The saint said to his disciples, “My children, God wanted me to learn something today, but it seems that you do not want me to learn it.”

One disciple said, “Forgive us, Master. God may want you to learn something but, at the same time, we are also sure that He wants us to teach that scoundrel a lesson. God is acting in and through you in one way and He is acting in and through us in another. This is the philosophy that you have taught us. Please forgive us.”

The Master gave his disciples a powerful smile. What else could the poor Master do?

Burning with grief

There was once a spiritual Master with tremendous occult and spiritual power who lived in the Himalayas. He had a particular disciple who lived many hundreds of miles away. This disciple also had some occult power, though not as much as his Master. When the disciple meditated, he would reach the very highest plane. For that reason, he already had some disciples of his own.

This disciple had a wife and two children. But instead of earning money to support his family, he used to spend all his time in meditation. His wife scolded and insulted him mercilessly, day in and day out, and this made him extremely sad.

One day the husband’s Master came down from the Himalayas to visit him, bringing two other disciples. The Master observed the family scene in his disciple’s home and he saw that the wife was really bothering his disciple. When this disciple was able to meditate in peace, he had the highest inner experiences, but when he came down to the ordinary level once more, all his time was wasted in quarrelling and fighting with his wife.

The Master decided to take the wife away with him to the Himalayas. Very politely, he said to her, “Now that we have come to see you and your husband, can you not go to the pond to fetch some fresh water for us? The water you have is not fresh and we are so thirsty. Can you bring the water at once? We will accompany you to the pond.”

The wife had such respect for her husband’s Master that she immediately went with him and the two disciples to the pond to fill her pitcher with water. On the way, the Master used his occult power and made her physical form extremely subtle. Then the Master took her with him to the Himalayas.

Soon the disciple’s son and daughter noticed that their mother was missing and they began searching and searching for her. “Where has Mother gone?” the daughter cried. “She left here with the Master and she did not return.” Then the daughter began to curse the Master.

The disciple realised intuitively what his Master had done and he began laughing and laughing. “How compassionate my Master is!” he exclaimed. “My wife and I were quarrelling incessantly. The Master does not want us to fight, so to give me a little peace of mind he has taken your mother to the Himalayas. I know he will take good care of her, and while she is gone I will be able to meditate without any interruptions.”

At first the children could not believe that their mother was safe and happy. Their father tried to console them, but to no avail. Finally, he said, “You do not believe me, but I know it is true. I am her husband. If I am quite happy, then why should you be worried? When the time comes, you will believe me.”

At last the daughter said, “All right. If Father says that Mother is safe, then I will accept it.”

Three or four weeks later, the mother reappeared. She was wearing the cloth of a renunciate. When her children saw her, they were overjoyed. “Mother, where did you go? What have you been doing?” they cried.

The mother replied, “I went to the pond with the Master and his two disciples to bring water. Suddenly, I saw that I was flying with them in my subtle body. I was enjoying it so much! I went with them to the Master’s hermitage in the mountains and he took such good care of me. I was very happy there. But after some time I began missing my children, so Master brought me back home.

A few years afterwards, the mother suddenly died. The son cried for a few hours and then somehow managed to control his grief. But the daughter was absolutely inconsolable. Even after two weeks, she was still crying pitifully and missing her mother at every second.

Her father tried to comfort her. He said, “Dying is just like going from one room to another room. Someday I will go there and you also will go there. The bell will ring for us, as it did for your mother. At that time, when you go to the other world, you will be able to see your mother again. But for now you have to live in this world.”

Unfortunately, the daughter did not want to hear her father’s philosophy. Her tears continued to flow unceasingly. Finally, her father said to her, “Come to me.”

She went close to her father and he placed the palm of his hand on her head for a few moments. When he removed his hand, she saw that it was severely scorched. She asked her father how it had happened. He told her, “I had to take your grief away somehow. You could not have gone on living with the grief that you were feeling. It was burning you like fire.”

So the father took away the grief from his daughter and she was able to live on earth for many more years.

He really cared for his mother

The disciple in the previous story eventually became a very great spiritual Master in his own right. This is another story about him.

For some reason, his mother became completely insane. She used to scream and strike people. One day, some of the village boys started to thrash her and beat her ruthlessly. At that time, her son was at least four hundred miles away. He was meditating with his disciples. Suddenly he felt intense pain and his back became covered with red marks.

While his mother was being struck, she had invoked her son. Inwardly the son heard her call and he immediately left to visit her. After many days of travel, he arrived at her village home. There he found his mother crying. She told him her sad story. Then she added, “I am sure you will still be able to see the marks on my back where those boys struck me.”

“Mother, you do not have any marks,” said her son.

“Is it true? How is it possible?” she asked.

“You can see my back,” he replied. Then he took off his kurta and showed her that his back was covered with red marks.

While the mother was being struck, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. At the same time, she was invoking her son. Inwardly, her son heard her cry for help and, on the strength of his identification with his mother, he took the attack on his own back.

When his mother saw how badly his back was hurt, she realised that he really cared for her. In this way, the son was able to console the mother.

Who is an atheist?

There was once an atheist-dentist who was extremely proud of his discovery that God does not exist. He used to brag to all his patients about his great discovery. Outside his clinic and also inside the room where he treated patients, he placed huge signs that said:

GOD IS NOWHERE.

There were some devout elderly ladies coming to him for treatment who were horrified by his philosophy. They would say, “How can you say there is no God?”

He would answer, “I am telling you the truth. If you feel that there is a God, then you can go to another dentist instead of bothering me!”

What could the poor elderly ladies do? They were suffering from tooth pain and needed treatment. Inwardly they were furious with him, but outwardly they needed his help.

One day a woman brought her little daughter to this dentist. This little girl was suffering from a very bad toothache. The woman had been telling her daughter that God is everywhere and that He is all Kindness, all Compassion and all Forgiveness. So she was afraid that when her daughter read the sign saying that God is nowhere, her daughter would be so upset that she would leave the dental clinic and not allow the dentist to treat her.

Mother and daughter arrived at the clinic and sat down in the waiting room. The little girl stared at the dentist’s famous sign. Then she very loudly read out:

GOD IS NOW HERE.

The mother was overwhelmed with joy that the child had misread the sign. Even the other patients in the waiting room were happy and amused. Nobody corrected the girl or told her that she was stupid. They did not want to destroy her happiness.

Then the little girl said, “Mother, you told me that God is everywhere, but you never told me where God actually is. The sign says that God is now here. That means that the dentist is God. Since God is here, please take me to a flower shop so that I can get flowers for God. You told me that if I see God, immediately I should give Him flowers. So you have to take me to a flower shop!”

The mother took her daughter to a nearby flower shop, and the daughter got beautiful flowers for the dentist.

When the girl gave the dentist the flowers, he said to himself, “I do not believe in God, but this little girl has made me into God Himself. For once in my life I have made someone truly happy. If I can make this little girl so happy, then I must try to make other God-believers happy also. I do not have to become another God, but at least I can become a God-believer!”

So the dentist separated the letters on the word ‘nowhere’ so that the sign really did say:

GOD IS NOW HERE.

Then something entered into his mind and he was afraid and embarrassed that his patients would think that he was claiming to be God. “They will say that I am going from one extreme to the other and laugh at me.”

Finally he decided, “It is better for people to laugh at me than to be angry with me. Let them laugh at me to their heart’s content because I am claiming to be God.”

Then he took a picture of the little girl and put it alongside his own picture. Underneath he wrote: “This little girl says I am God.”

People were very amused by the little girl’s realisation. But, as a matter of fact, nobody thought ill of the dentist or inwardly mocked him. They felt that it is better to take yourself as God than not to believe in God at all. People who were very spiritual even felt, “If the dentist wants to say that God is now here, we will not mind. God is in everyone.”

In this way, everybody was happy. And who made them happy? The little girl and her discovery!

The difference between a stark atheist and a staunch God-believer

Once a disciple said to his Master, “How horrible atheists are! God is so kind, so compassionate, so forgiving. Without God’s Presence, no human being can live on earth. How can atheists be so cruel to God?”

The Master replied, “My son, that is your way of thinking.”

The disciple said, “Master, please illumine us. What do you think of an atheist?”

The Master said, “The difference between an atheist and a God-believer like you is very simple. You are a talker and an atheist is a doer.”

The disciples were surprised and shocked by the Master’s statement. Then the Master told the following story:

There happened to be a very, very old man who was a street beggar. One day the old man came to an atheist and asked him for money. The old beggar said, “Sir, if you help me, God will be so grateful to you and so proud of you. Then God will bless you and give you more outer riches.”

The atheist said, “Shut up, shut up! I do not believe in God and I have nothing to do with God. If you have anything to do with God, then go to Him for alms and do not bother me.”

The beggar replied, “I know that God exists, but at this moment I do not know where He is. Otherwise, I would have gone to Him and asked Him for a little food and money to lead a very simple life.”

The atheist said, “You believe in God, but you do not know where God is! You have spoken all about God’s Goodness, Kindness and Compassion, but He is not giving you the material things that you need. I do not believe in God at all, but if I give you money, then I shall become your God, your real God. The one who is kind to you and compassionate to you is the real God. The other God is hiding. God alone knows where He is!” Then the atheist gave the old beggar a large sum of money.

After telling this story, the Master said to his disciples, “You always brag about your good qualities, but if this street beggar had come to you, you would have given ten reasons why you could not help him. You would have said, ‘Oh, I do not have enough money. I have to buy something special on this particular day,’ and so forth. For so many reasons you would have refused to help the poor old man who needed money and food so desperately.

“Although the atheist did not believe in God, he helped the beggar. So he became the real God at that time. This is the difference between a stark atheist and a staunch God-believer, like you.”

A question of faith

Two ladies went to a spiritual Master. One of the ladies asked the Master a question on behalf of her friend. She said, “Can you tell us whether her son will pass his examination? He will be sitting for it very soon.”

The mother of the boy also showed some interest in hearing what the Master would say.

The Master meditated for a few moments and said, “Oh, he will do very, very well!”

A few weeks later, the results appeared: that particular boy had failed his examination. As a result, the lady who had asked the question stopped coming to see the Master. “What a useless Master!” she said. “His prophecy was all wrong!”

But the boy’s actual mother came back to the Master. When the Master saw her, he said, “Please tell me about your son’s examination.”

“Unfortunately, he failed,” the mother said.

“And where is your friend?” asked the Master.

“My friend lost all faith in you because your prophecy did not come true and my son failed,” said the lady.

“Then why are you still coming here?” asked the Master. “After all, it was your son who failed.”

“I come because I see something in you,” said the lady. “I feel something in you. Who cares for my son’s personal failure? He can easily sit for the examination again. But the joy that I get when I look at your eyes and your feet is indescribable. I come here for joy and not for prophecies.”

Then the Master blessed her and said, “You are my real disciple.”

The useless friend had used her mind to judge the Master. She did not want a Master who could not see even two weeks into the future. But the boy’s mother came back to the Master, even though he had been wrong. As a matter of fact, the Master did know in advance that her son would fail the examination, but he had wanted to see the strength of her faith in him.

We all need this kind of faith. You can call it blind faith. Faith itself is blind, true! But again, blindness is all oneness, all oneness.

The spiritual lesson

Two disciples were meditating in front of their Master. The Master’s eyes were wide open and he was looking soulfully at one of the disciples. He was not looking at the other disciple at all. But this other disciple was still gazing at the Master most devotedly with folded hands.

The disciple on whom the Master was meditating assumed that the Master was ignoring the other disciple because that person was very bad. He became angry that such an undivine fellow was even being allowed to meditate in front of the Master. This is what was going on in the mind of the disciple on whom the Master was intensely meditating.

Meanwhile, the other disciple was thinking, “Master, I am so grateful to you for looking at him and not at me. You are teaching me how to conquer my jealousy. In your presence, I have no jealousy. So I am sending you my gratitude for looking at him.”

When the meditation was over, the Master stood up from his chair and went over to the second disciple and blessed him. “You have shown me what gratitude is,” the Master said. “Even though I did not look at you, you remained in a soulful and devoted consciousness.” Then the Master scolded the first disciple mercilessly because he had become so proud and haughty.

The wrong prayer to the wrong person

There were two women who were very close friends. Both of them had a happy family life as well as material prosperity. Another lady observed how fortunate these two friends were and she longed for the same wealth and happiness. So she asked them, “How is it that you and the members of your families are blessed with such inner and outer riches?”

One of the friends told her, “For years I prayed and prayed to the goddess of misery. One day the goddess came and I said to her, ‘Now that you are pleased with me, please go away and never come back!’ The goddess listened to my prayer and she has never returned.”

Then the other friend said, “I prayed to the goddess Lakshmi to give me wealth, beauty, prosperity, harmony and all other divine gifts. I, too, prayed for years and years. One day she came to bless me and I begged her, ‘Please do not leave me! Please stay with me forever.’ The goddess Lakshmi listened to my prayer and stayed with me.”

When the third lady heard these stories, greed entered into her. She said, “Let me invoke both the goddess of misery and the goddess of prosperity. When both of them come, then I will be able to ask them for the proper boons.”

So she began praying most fervently. At long last, both goddesses came together to bless her. The lady was so excited and delighted to see both goddesses at once that she became confused. She said to the goddess of misery, “You are so kind. Please stay here with me forever.” To the goddess of prosperity, she said, “You can go away! Now that you have come to bless me, I am asking you to leave. I never want to see you again.”

So the goddess of prosperity went away and the goddess of misery stayed with her for the remainder of her life.

This lady had wanted to get double benefit by invoking both goddesses at once. But when greed enters, wisdom disappears. In her excitement, she offered the wrong prayer to the wrong person. Always we have to be careful when we pray. Otherwise, we may make the wrong choices.

Tomorrow never comes

This is a story about people who think that there will always be another opportunity tomorrow to do what they did not do today. In Spanish, they say mañana, but mañana never comes.

There was once a rich man who was extremely miserly. People in his village used to hate him because he did not give anything to the poor and the needy. He was also very unkind to children. In every way, he showed his stinginess.

This man used to promise the villagers that he would give all his wealth to charity when he died. He told them, “Now I do not want to give you any money, but in my will I will give so much money to you.”

The village people did not believe him at all. They knew that he was miserly to the core, so they had no confidence in his will.

One day the rich man went out shopping. It began raining very heavily and he took shelter at the foot of a tree. He was joined there by a pig and a cow.

These two animals started conversing. God opened up the man’s third eye so that he was able to understand their language.

The pig said to the cow, “Why is it that human beings are so unkind to me? You only give them milk and they appreciate you so much. I am utterly sick of hearing about cow’s milk! As if there was only cow’s milk and nothing else in God’s entire creation!

“In my case, I give three things at least: ham, bacon and bristles. I give so many things, but all I ever hear is ‘cow’s milk, cow’s milk!’ They all appreciate you and admire your bounty. Do they ever mention my name? No! Even when they eat what I have to offer, they do not show me any gratitude.”

The cow listened to the pig’s long list of woes and then she offered him her wisdom-light: “In my case, while I am alive human beings get milk from me. It is extremely nourishing and they like it very much. But, in your case, it is not like that. Only after your death do they get the benefit. When you want to do something good in this world, you have to do it while you are alive, not after you have left the body.”

The cow’s philosophy touched the rich man’s heart. He went home and gave away all his riches to the poor. He no longer cared to wait for the evening of his life to arrive in order to become a good person. Then he was admired, adored and loved by everybody.

Practising what you preach

There was once a brilliant student named B.M. On examination day, he and his colleagues were taking their English exam. The teacher was moving to and fro watching them. At one point, the teacher saw B.M.'s pen drop to the floor. The teacher immediately picked it up and gave it to B.M. The student again started writing.

The teacher said, “How is it that you have not thanked me?”

The student said, “Why should I?”

The teacher could not believe his eyes and ears, for this particular student had always been excellent in his behaviour and conduct. He asked the student, “How is it that today you are behaving so undivinely? Before today, I have only seen your divine nature.”

The student said, “Sir, you have always taught us to help others immediately whenever they are in need and never to expect any reward, not even a ‘thank you’. Then only, you said, would we be blessed most powerfully by the Heavenly Father.”

The teacher immediately shed tears of delight and said to the student, “I am so grateful to you and proud of you for helping me to practise what I preach.”

God is in everyone

There was once a very poor family. The father was a tailor who could barely support his wife and son. When the father became a victim of cancer and died, the poor mother found it very difficult to support her eight-year-old son. There were no relatives who could help. She used to tell her son, “God is kind. He is giving us a special experience. God will change our fate.” Then, O God, the mother also fell very sick!

The young boy was very upset, and the mother tried to console him. “God is so kind, He hears all our prayers,” she said.

The son asked, “If I write a letter to Him, will it reach Him?”

The mother said, “Yes, if your letter is sincere, then God will respond.”

He asked, “What is the address?”

She said, “You just address it to Heaven.”

The son wrote, “Dearest Father, my earthly father passed away a short while ago and now my mother is very sick. We do not know what we did wrong in our previous lives to deserve this fate and we have not consciously done anything wrong in this life. Please help us.” It was addressed to the Supreme Father in Heaven.

He went to put the letter in the mailbox, but because he was very short, he could not mail the letter. Then a tall man came by. The boy said, “Can you help me?”

The man said, “Certainly!” The man looked at the letter, addressed to God in Heaven. He asked, “Can I read your letter?”

The boy said, “Yes.”

The man did not have the heart to laugh. He started shedding tears, and then he gave the boy some money.

The boy said, “But you are not God.”

The man said, “No, but did your mother not teach you that God is in everyone? Can I come to your house to see your mother?”

The little boy said, “Alas, how will we feed you?”

The man said, “Do not worry. I am just coming to see your mother because she is sick.”

The man was a member of an organisation that did good things for mankind. He called a special meeting and read out the letter in the meeting. The members were deeply moved, and they all came to see the lady. They said that every month they would send contributions to the family.

So if you have faith in God, this kind of thing happens.

The king's surprise visit

From time to time, George V of England used to enjoy walking along the street incognito. He especially liked to go to the villages. Once he was supposed to go to a particular village to meet with the local people and give them advice. Everybody went to that particular village to get advice and blessings from the King, but the King did not come. Instead, he went to another village and was moving around in disguise. He saw a lady working in the field and asked, “You are working all by yourself. Do you not have dear ones to help you?”

She said, “Yes, I have dear ones, but today they have all gone to see the King.”

He said, “The King?”

She said, “Yes, are you such a fool that you do not know? The King is speaking in a nearby village, but I have five children. If I go to see the King and do not work, then tomorrow we will not have any food to eat. Who wants to see the King? For me, duty comes first.”

When George V heard this, he immediately gave her a large sum of money. He told her, “When your friends come back, you tell them that since you could not go to the King, the King came and talked to you.”

She was dumbfounded!

The great man

There was once a man who was physically, vitally, mentally and psychically strong. When he was young, he used to play American football. In the course of time, he entered another field and became famous. One day, just for the fun of it, he came to play football with his old colleagues. They could not believe that such a great man had come to play football with them.

A thousand people came to watch because he was the greatest man in his country. During the game, this man collided with someone else and fell down. Immediately all the other players came to see if he was hurt. But he smiled at them and assured them he was all right.

In case you do not know who he was, he was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He won over the American people with his heart-power, vital-power and mind-power.

Benjamin Franklin's price

This is a story about Benjamin Franklin. He was many things combined in one frame.

Once a young man went to Benjamin Franklin’s bookstore and started browsing. After a long time, he selected a book that he wanted to buy. He asked Franklin’s assistant the price. The assistant said, “One dollar.”

The customer said, “The price is too high. Can you not ask your boss? He is in the other room at the printing press. Perhaps he will lower the price.”

So Franklin came out and the man asked him the price of the book. Franklin said, “A dollar and a quarter.”

The customer said, “Your assistant said a dollar and you have to say a dollar and a quarter? Please be serious and tell me what the price is.”

This time Franklin said, “A dollar and a half.”

The man asked, “Why do you keep raising the price? Please be serious!”

Franklin said, “I am serious. Do you not see that you are wasting my time? The price of the book is one dollar. But because you are wasting my time, the price of the book has to go up.”

The man understood and bought the book for a dollar and a half.

The Swiss captain and the Emperor

When Switzerland was ruled by France, a Swiss army captain asked the French Emperor for a large sum of money for the military. The Emperor told the treasurer to give him the money, but the treasurer said, “Do you think it is wise? They are not French people. Why spend so much money on the Swiss army? Instead of giving the money to the captain, let us build a long and excellent paved road.”

The captain said, “I do not deny that this road is a splendid idea. But what about the countless Swiss soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for you? Instead of a road, can we not have a river flowing with the blood of the Swiss soldiers who have offered their lives for the French Emperor?”

The Emperor was very pleased and very embarrassed at the same time. He scolded the treasurer and said, “Give him the money immediately!”

The Emperor had quite a few swords. His most treasured sword he gave to the Swiss captain for his wisdom and brave words.