Moral Stories For Children & Youth

By Mrs.B.Neelakar English Translation by Balarama Visvadeva Email: talk2visva@gmail.com

INDEX OF STORIES 1) How the Squirrel got its Stripes 2) Saktuprasta 3) The Ant, Bird & Hunter 4) Pot of Gold 5) Saint Tyagaraja 6) Definition of Luck 7) Bharavi, the Humbled Poet 8) Ego and Arrogance Causes a Mighty Fall 9) Kirata Arjuneeyam 10) The Greater God 11) Normalcy Restored 12) Markandeyas Lifespan 13) Feeding Dattatreya Bestows Miracles 14) Gokarna Shiva Linga 15) Importance of Gokarna 16) The Test Conducted by Veda Dharma 17) Humbling Vedic Pandits 18) Chandalas Life 19) The Healed Leper 20) The Honest Disciple 21) The Persistent Student 22) Test of Attitude 23) Three Fish 24) Do your Duty & Be Quiet 25) Everything Happens for Good 26) Signs of Danger 27) True Devotion to Abirami 28) Ekalavya 29) Karnas Benevolence 30) Krishna & Kuchela (Sudama) 31) Together we Stand, Divided we Fall 32) The curse on Dasaratha 33) A Vile Wife Snubbed 34) Sayandeva 35) Karna A man of his word 36) Dealing with the Lazy Donkey 37) The Class Leader 38) Supra Natural Connections 39) Suicide is Not a Solution 40) Persistence and Attention to Detail 41) Riding Two Wheelers Wildly 42) Death Redefined 43) Tiru Gnana Sambadar of Sirkali 44) Sharanagati 45) Koorath Alwar 46) Baktha Kannappa 47) Sri Kalahasti 48) Udhavas Quest 49) King Janaka

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50) Parvati Devis Redoubled Devotion 51) Escaping the Vicious Cycle 52) King of Kasi 53) Lord Ramas Word 54) The Gandiva Bow of Arjuna

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Moral Stories for Children & Youth 1 How the Squirrel got its Stripes Hanuma had returned from Lanka after seeing the distraught Sita Devi and informed the same to Lord Rama. With no further delay, the Lord began his journey to Lanka from Rameswaram. Enroute, He encountered the great ocean between mainland India and Lanka. He prayed the Samudra Raja (King of the ocean) to let Him and His vanara (Monkey) army pass through it. He waited for three days and nights. Finally, seeing His army getting depressed Lord Rama shot a number of arrows at the ocean, which startled and woke up the King of the ocean. He saluted the Lord and said that a Setu (bridge) could be built over it by Nala and Neela, the architects in the army of Lord Rama. This is how the Lord got the name Seturama. All the chieftans of Lord Ramas army including Hanuma, Jambavan, Nala, Neela, Angada and Sugreeva began building the bridge post-haste. They smashed huge mountains which were nearby, took the huge rocks and hurled them into the sea. The ocean bank was abuzz with activity of the monkey army, who were busy filling the sea with huge stones. They were piling rocks one upon the other in order to create the bridge to Lanka. At this time a squirrel was watching all the activity. It saw Lord Rama, and like all of us who have a glimpse at Him, was highly inspired to support His activities. So it piled little loads of sand, mud and pebbles on its tiny back and began filling the gaps between the huge boulders, so that the feet of Lord Rama would not be hurt while walking on the bridge. Lord Rama saw the sincere efforts of the squirrel and picked it up in his hand and caressed it with his fingers. The squirrel, which was fully gray in color till then, got four white stripes on its back because it had been touched by the divine fingers of the Lord. This is how the squirrels we see today have both white and gray stripes on their backs. The moral of this story is that we may be very small people in this world, but in our own little way, having good intentions at all times, we must always support the mission of the Lord, without thinking of the eventual result or outcome, and thereby receive his divine blessings. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 2 Saktuprasta There once was a squirrel which was golden in color on its right side and gray in color on the left side of its body. Wherever there was a yagna (sacrifice) the squirrel would go and roll on the floor and in the water there. One day the eldest of the Pandava brothers, Yudhishtra or Dharmaraja as he is called, was conducting a great yagna. He was offering food, gifts and riches to all the poor, needy and the saintly that were assembled in the premises. Yudhishtra thought that he was greater than his cousin Duryodhana because he was conducting such a great yagna and giving away endless wealth. Just then the half-golden half-gray squirrel arrived at the premises and began rolling on the floor and water there. All the elders and grand old men assembled in the yagna

hall wondered what the squirrel was doing. They questioned it and it replied by relating the following story: There once was a poor Brahmin living a remote and austere life. His name was Saktuprasta. He lived in a hut with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. They lived a life of penance and shared whatever food they had. One day, a hungry visitor came to their home just when they were about to have their lunch. Immediately on seeing the visitor, Saktuprasta gave him his lunch, but the visitors hunger was not satiated. Saktuprastas wife said that it was her duty to support her husband and gave her lunch to the hungry visitor. The visitor was still very hungry and even the two portions he had eaten did not satisfy him. Saktuprastas son, seeing the nobility of his parents and understanding their greatness, gave away his lunch too to the ravenously hungry visitor. The daughter-in-law too, being a dutiful and devoted wife, gave away her lunch as well to the visitor. In this manner, all the four members of Saktuprastas family remained hungry for many days after giving away their food to the unknown visitor and upholding the Indian virtue of Athithi Devo Bhava (A visitor is equal to God). At that time the squirrel was lying there and the right half of its body which touched the ground of Saktuprastas home turned golden in color because of the holiness of the four people dwelling there. Ever since that time, the squirrel had been searching for a place where someone was conducting a yagna or sacrifice so that the other half of its body also could be turned into golden color from gray. But this was to no avail. Even in Dharmarajas yagna, despite all the gifts and donations being distributed, the squirrels left half of the body had not turned golden. The moral of the story is the great spirit of sacrifice of the already impoverished family of Saktuprasta, the equivalent of which was not present even in the families of great kings. As is said in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the Lord appreciates men who sacrifice unto the Gods, so that the Gods will in-turn nourish man. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 3 The Ant, Bird & Hunter There was an ant which fell into a river accidentally and the river was flowing rapidly. The ant would have died after getting drowned in the river, but luckily for the ant there was a bird sitting on a tree above that saw the ant. The bird plucked out a leaf from the tree, flew a short distance, and put it into the river just in time for the ant to climb onto the leaf. The ant floated on the leaf for a while and finally when the river was calm it reached land. After it reached land, the ant dismounted the leaf, felt thankful that its life had been saved by the bird and headed off to thank the bird which saved its life. In a few hours, it reached the place where the bird was seated on the tree. The ant was about to climb the tree to thank the bird but it observed a hunter was about to shoot down the bird on the tree. The bird had not noticed the hunter. The ant decided to take action immediately, and thereby help its friend, the bird. The ant went and began biting the feet of the hunter. The irritated hunter could not aim carefully and missed shooting his prey, the bird, as his feet had been bitten by the ant.

The moral of the story is that we may all be very small persons but we must try our best to help our friends under all circumstances. Returning a favor is as important as accepting a favor. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 4 Pot of Gold Once upon a time, there was a poor Brahmin couple. The couple was so poor that the husband had to beg for a living on a daily basis. Some days they could not find food. On some other days, they could get enough food to last a day. On the days when they could not beg enough food, the wife of the Brahmin would pluck the leaves of the small Tamma tree outside their hut, boil the leaves in water and serve the soup to the Brahmin man for survival. One day Sri Guru Narasimha Saraswati visited their hut. Everyone in the village wondered how such a poor couple would serve anything of significance to the Guru. As usual, the Brahmin woman served the Guru with soup made from the Tamma leaves. The Guru drank the Tamma soup, then thanked the Brahmin and his wife, told them that their days of poverty were over, went outside their hut, pulled out the Tamma plant, threw it aside and went away. The Brahmin husband and wife were shocked since the Tamma plant was their only source of food during bad days. Anyway they knew that everything was only for their good. They dug out some soil where the Tamma plant was planted in order to replant it, and found a big pot of gold coins. They took the pot of gold coins safely inside their hut, locked their hut and went running to the Guru and revealed what happened to him. The good Guru told them to spend the gold cautiously and in a balanced way lest people doubt their source of income and lay evil eyes on them. The Brahmin couple lived happily ever after with the grace of Guru. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 5 Saint Tyagaraja Saint Tyagaraja was born on 04 May 1767 in Tiruvayyaru near Thanjavur in Tamilnadu. He was born in a Telugu Smartha Brahmin family which had moved from Andhra Pradesh to Tamilnadu in the early period of 16th century. Tyagarajas father was Rama Brahmam and mother was Seetamma. Saint Tyagaraja is popular today because he is the father of carnatic music after having written more than 800 songs in praise of Lord Rama. His father, Rama Brahmam taught Saint Tyagaraja the Rama Taraka mantram. Tyagarajas first song was Namo Namo Ragahavayya. In his 18th year, Tyagaraja married Parvatamma, but she died by the time he turned 23. He then married Kamalamba, the sister of Parvatamma. He had one daughter by the name of Sitamahalakshmi, who had one son. The son of Sitamahalakshmi had no progeny and so Saint Tyagaraja does not have a living heir today. Tyagarajas teacher in carnatic music was Sonti Venkataramayya. The uniqueness of Tyagaraja was that he was so devoted to Lord Rama that he refused to sing for the ruler, King Sarabhoji II. This was despite the fact that the King offered him the post of Samsthana Vidvan (Royal Scholar). Tyagaraja was always clear that his loyalty was towards Lord Rama only and not towards any human being.

Tyagarajas mother passed away in 1804. His own elder brother threw away his Rama statue into the river Kaveri. Deeply saddened by the time he entered his 37th year, Tyagaraja said the Sadakshara Rama mantra so many times that he had repeated the Rama nama 96 crore times in a single year. Tyagaraja walked all the way to Tirumala Tirupati in 1839 and passed away in 1847. Tyagaraja means the King of Sacrifice. Truly, this King of Sacrifice laid down his life for Lord Rama and not for any human being. Nowadays, if anyone sings Tyagaraja Kritis it is only the blessings we have received from Saint Tyagaraja, and singing is the best form of Bakthi to Sri Rama. The Tyagaraja Aradhana Festival is held every year at Tiruvayyaru on Bahula Panchami Day of Pushya Month. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 6 Definition of Luck Once upon a time, there was a 30 year old man. He was being blamed as a lazy man by all his family members. He never studied well at school, nor had he attended school well. He never earned any money, nor did he possess any skill to earn money either. He never was even close or friendly to anyone who could help him earn money in the village. The whole family was worried about him and their worry translated into a regular dosage of unbearable scolding by one and all. Finally, the man ventured out and tried many types of work. He eventually chose to become a snake charmer. He chose this profession because the snake would dance and he only had to play the charming music to make it dance. Therefore, for a few days, he worked under the tutelage of a snake charmer in the village. He learnt all the skills required to be a good snake charmer. He then bought a small covered basket into which he would put the snake. He also bought a flute to play alluring music for charming the snake. Then he set forth into the forests to search for a snake. After a long day of walking and difficult search, he found a nice snake which he caught and put into the covered basket. He was tired but determinedly began walking back from the forest towards his village. He reached a village which was midway between his village and the forest and decided to sleep there for the night as he was tired. Despite his hunger, he slept soundly in the village community hall. As he slept deeply, a small mischievous rat came and bit the covered basket in which the hungry snake was housed. The rat thought there was tasty food inside the basket. When the hole was big enough for the rat to enter, the snake swallowed and killed the rat, and escaped from the basket. There are some interesting questions this story throws up to us. They are as follows: 1. Did the usually lazy man not really work hard to become a snake charmer? 2. Did the usually lazy man not try to rid himself from poverty and hunger? 3. What wrong did the mischievous rat do in thinking there would be food inside the basket?

4. What is the correct thing that the snake did that it got both freedom and food at the same time by eating the rat and escaping through the hole made by the rat? 5. Why did luck favor only the snake, and not the rat, which was killed, or the man, who lost the snake, the basket, and all his effort? 6. Why does it happen sometimes in our life that we do all the correct things at our work places but luck does not favor us? Moral Stories for Children & Youth 7 Bharavi, the Humbled Poet There once lived a great poet called Bharavi. He was very learned, had great erudition, was very well read, was knowledgeable in all Vedas and had command over poetry. Bharavi was praised by the King, by fellow scholars, by his mother, and also by his wife. However, his own father never ever praised him even once. There once was a ceremony in the Kingdom where Bharavi was honored as the best poet. Even after this ceremony Bharavis father chose to ignore praising him. Bharavi was highly irritated by this. He often told his mother to ask his father why he was never praised by the father, but the mother was too scared to do this. Finally, Bharavi was so full of hate for the father that he took a big club, climbed the attic and waited for the father so that he could hit him on the back of the head with the club from above. Coincidentally on the very same day, the mother asked the father why he never praised his son though the whole Kingdom praised him. The father replied that if he praised his son he feared that his sons lifespan would decrease, and his son may also not work hard to improve himself. On hearing this, Bharavi realized how foolish he had been to even think of hitting his father with a club. His father only wanted him to do well. He set aside the club, jumped down from the attic and fell at his fathers feet and asked his father to punish him for what he had intended to do. He told his father that he had intended to hit him with a club. The father told Bharavi that there was no punishment needed and that he had been forgiven unconditionally, but Bharavi insisted. So, Bharavis father asked him to go and stay with his in-laws for six months and then come back to his to fathers house. Bharavi left home, not knowing the implication of his fathers word. On the first day, Bharavi was served very good food at the in-laws house and was treated very well. But with every passing day, he was treated with more and more disdain. Towards the end of six months, Bharavi was not respected for his poetry or erudition at all but was treated as a man-servant in his in-laws house. He was responsible for cooking and cleaning, for washing the dishes and cleaning the soiled clothes and the dirt in the house, and for the farm-related work. He was treated like a cheap farm-hand. He was under-fed and over-worked. He missed his King and Kingdom, his Vedas and his poetry, his mother and most of all, he missed his father and fathers home. All of a sudden he knew what it was to be in his fathers home where silence meant nothing less than great praise!

Moral Stories for Children & Youth 8 Ego & Arrogance Causes a Mighty Fall There is a town called Vemulavada near Hyderabad. In this town there is a Shiva temple. The deity here is called Rajarajeswara. There once was a devotee of Rajarajeswara. He used to visit a concubine, and had a son from her. The devotee was a brilliant man and despite the son being born from a concubine, he too was brilliant. The name of the son was Bima. Since the son had poetic qualities he was known as Bima Kavi, as the word Kavi stands for poet. Bima Kavi grew up to become a highly educated and erudite man. It so happened that the King ruling Vemulavada was a highly arrogant man. Bima Kavi once wanted to show his education and erudition to the King and so he went to the court of the King only to be thrown out disrespectfully. To avenge this, Bima Kavi went to the outskirts of the city and on the wall of the city he wrote the following words - O arrogant King! You will lose your Kingdom on the 3rd day of Poornima. Poornima is the full moon day. Accordingly on the 3rd day after the full moon day the neighboring King attacked Vemulavada and overwhelmed the arrogant King and took over his Kingdom. The arrogant king became a beggar and wandered in the forests. One fine day when he was wandering in the forest, he came across Bima Kavi and told him his plight without any trace of his old arrogance and ego. Bima Kavi was impressed to see the arrogant King speaking frankly and honestly without any ego. Bima Kavi was moved, and told the King that the 3rd day after the next Poornima (full moon) he would again get back his Kingdom and his penury would end. The King could not believe his ears as he had no horse, no soldiers, no means to wage war, no shelter, not much clothing, and no food to eat either. The poor King continued wandering. Suddenly, he met his Minister while wandering thus. His Minister told him that he had some money which he had saved when he was the Minister under him. Using this money he would pay some Deputy Ministers and Soldiers who had worked under the old King earlier but now were forced to work under the new King. They would revolt if the chance arose. The old King and Minister hatched a plot in which the old King would enter the Kingdom as part of a drama troupe and kill the incumbent King. As per the plan, on the 3rd day after the full moon, the old King entered the palace and beheaded the opposition King. The old Kings horse recognized the sounds of his sword and began to neigh, and took the old King to safety while the Minister and the old Kings soldiers fought with the dead Kings men for a while before vanquishing them. Soon the old King was reinstated as per Bima Kavis promise. As soon as the Kingdom was back in the hands of the original King, the King and Minister had a serious discussion about Bima Kavi. They concluded that Bima Kavi curses a person only if he is annoyed. They decided that they should never act in such a way as to annoy him in future, and should accord him all the respect that should be accorded to a reputed poet.

Moral Stories for Children & Youth 9 Kirata Arjuneeyam There was a time when the Pandava, Arjuna fought with Lord Shiva. Arjuna was known as not having enough Bakthi or Devotion. That was because Arjuna had lots and lots of strength, so he could do without much devotion to God. Hence, we have the story of Kirata Arjuneeyam. Kirata is another name of Shiva. Kirata Arjuneeyam is the war of Lord Shiva versus Arjuna. Arjuna was hunting a Bison one day. Lord Shiva also took the form of a hunter and also began hunting the same Bison. This was in order to teach Arjuna some lessons in devotion. Many arrows were shot at the same Bison. Some arrows were from the Gandiva bow of Arjuna. Other arrows were from Lord Shivas bow. Finally the Bison succumbed. Arjuna said the Bison was his, while Lord Shiva also said the Bison was his. In effect, both laid claim to the dead Bisons body. So, soon a battle ensued between Kirata and Arjuna. Arjuna began to shoot arrows from the Gandiva towards Lord Shiva but somehow he just could not focus. Somehow he could never tell left from right. Somehow the arrows never seemed to hurt Lord Shiva. Finally a frustrated Arjuna even hit Shiva with a spear on the forehead but it was Arjuna who fainted and not Lord Shiva. When Arjuna regained his senses, he saw Kirata standing in the form of Lord Shiva along with Goddess Parvati. Arjuna fell at Lord Shivas feet and asked for moksha or liberation. He wanted not to be caught in this human cycle of births and deaths. Lord Shiva told him he was born as Arjuna to gain the Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva and win wars and also be a great archer, but in the next janma (next life) as Baktha Kannappa he would be a devoted hunter to Lord Shiva and his only purpose would be to get moksha (liberation) & sayujyam (same thoughts as the Lord) from Lord Shiva. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 10 The Greater God Once upon a time, Brahma and Lord Vishnu had an argument as to who was a greater god amongst the two. The argument generated so much heat that a Shiva Linga appeared near them. Brahma and Lord Vishnu decided that who ever saw the top or the bottom of the Shiva Linga was a greater god. Brahma took the form of a boar and dug deep into the earth. Lord Vishnu took the form of a swan and flew upwards to see the top of the Shiva Linga. Many days passed but neither was Brahma able to see the bottom of the long Shiva Linga, nor was Lord Vishnu able to see the top of the pillar. Finally both Brahma and Lord Vishnu gave up and returned to the starting point. There Lord Shiva welcomed them and asked both Brahma and Lord Vishnu about their experiences. Lord Vishnu spoke the truth and said that no matter how high he flew, he could not sight the top of the pillar or Linga. Brahma, who was eager to become the greater god, said that he saw the bottom of the pillar. He even brought along a cow with him to nod its head when Brahma lied thus. Lord Shiva saw the nodding cow and the lying

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Brahma and cursed them both since he knew they could not have seen the bottom of his Linga. Since Brahma lied about seeing the bottom of the Linga, Lord Shiva said Brahma would never be worshiped by man in Bhuloka (the human world). Since the cow nodded its head when Brahma lied, only the tail of the cow would be worshiped and not the head or body. Since Lord Vishnu had spoken the truth only Vishnu and Shiva temples would exist in the human world. Brahma did not realize that becoming the greatest God was a natural & truthful process and hence he was cursed along with the cow that trusted him blindly. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 11 Normalcy Restored Once upon a time, Lord Shiva was meditating. During such a time he was calmly constructing and destroying different worlds at the same time, so that human minds would seek God and learn the spirit of sacrifice unto God. Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva, did not understand the significance of her husbands meditation. She playfully went behind him and closed both his eyes with her palms. This act disturbed the concentration of Lord Shiva and he immediately cursed her that she should be born among men in the human world. Instantaneously, Parvati Devi was born as the daughter of the king of fishermen along the coastline in India. Parvati grew up into a charming lady. During these approximately twenty five years, Lord Shiva had done great penance and was managing the world that he constantly constructed and destroyed. The cow and vehicle of Lord Shiva named Nandi was seated facing Lord Shiva all the while. He began to feel the absence of Mother Parvati. He did not want the world to go through more destruction and construction. He wanted Lord Shiva to be at peace with his consort Parvati. So he went to the place where Parvati was residing and became a great & fierce whale in the sea nearby. The whale Nandi attacked many fishing boats and destroyed them. This prompted the king of the fishermen, Parvati Devis father, to pray to Lord Shiva to save the fishing community from destruction by the whale. The prayers of the fishermen and Parvati were so innocent and intense that Lord Shiva came down in the form of a hunter and killed the whale. The whale then took its true form of Nandi and pleaded Lord Shiva in hunter form to marry Parvati Devi in the fisherwoman form. Soon the marriage was held in great pomp and gaiety, and peace was restored to the world for a long period of time. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 12 Markandeyas Lifespan Once upon a time, there lived a Sage and his wife. The Sage was Mrikandu and his wife was Marudmati. They did not have a son. They had everything in their ashram, but not a son. So they prayed to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was pleased with their prayers and he appeared in front of them.

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Mrikandu and his wife asked Lord Shiva for a son. Lord Shiva said he could grant them with either a son who would live for 16 years and have a very good name and reputation, or a son who would have a normal, long lifespan, but be a dunce, and give his parents a bad reputation. Mrikandu and his wife asked for a son who would live only 16 years with a good reputation. For Mrikandu, reputation and good standing in society was far more important than living in disrepute for long periods. The lad born to them was named Markandeya and he soon grew into a noble & strong boy. He studied well and pleased one and all with his demeanor and behavior. His teachers, friends, parents and subjects of the kingdom all simply loved him. When he celebrated his 15th birthday, everyone except his mother was happy. His mother was overwhelmed with motherly affection and sad tears. She knew that Markandeya would not live for his next birthday. When Markandeya came to know the real reason why his mother was shedding tears, he immediately decided to pray intensely to Lord Shiva who was the original donor of his 16 year lifespan to his parents. From that day onwards, Markandeya performed continuous Shiva poojas (prayers). On his 16th birthday, he clung on to the Shiva Linga without letting it go. As we all know, Yama is the Lord of Death. Yamas messengers reached Markandeya to take him to Yama Loka. At the very moment that Yamas messengers arrived, Lord Shivas assistants also arrived at the scene and they waged a fierce war against Yamas army. A noose thrown by Yama fell around both Markandeya and the Shiva Linga. Observing all this chaos, and also Markandeyas sincere devotion, Lord Shiva appeared before Markandeya, and chased Yama away. Soon, the pleased Lord Shiva blessed Markandeya that he could remain like a 16 year old boy always. Markandeya could also choose when he wished to leave the human world (or Bhuloka) and return to the sayujyam of Shiva Loka. Even today children in India are blessed with Markandeyas lifespan which increases with increased devotion and good reputation both at home and at work. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 13 Feeding Dattatreya Bestows Miracles Once there was a poor Brahmin couple. The husband was Raja Sharma and his wife was Sumathi. They had many children, but only two managed to survive. The surviving children were a blind son and a second son with a limping leg. It was the family tradition to feed Brahmin visitors during afternoons, before the family themselves consumed any food. On one such day when ancestral feeding was to be done, Sumathi cooked food for Brahmin visitors, but before she could serve them a saint begged for food at their door.

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Sumathi fed the saintly beggar to his full satisfaction. The beggar thanked Sumathi by addressing her as amma which means mother. The beggar then assumed his true form of Dattatreya, who is the visible incarnation of Supreme Being Himself. Dattatreya is known to us in three aspects namely Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva who are Generator, Operator and Destroyer (GOD) respectively. Dattatreya wished to grant a boon to Sumathi in return for the food he had eaten and asked her to choose what she wanted. Sumathi said she felt happy when the saint had called her amma and she wanted that to continue for ever. Sumathi told Raja Sharma about the saint who consumed food before even the brahmins were served, and before an offering of naivedya was made to Lord Vishnu. Raja Sharma said that since the offering was made to Dattatreya, no sin would incur to them for disrespecting brahmins or Lord Vishnu, as they had only made mid-day offerings to the yagnapati. Dattatreya granted Sumathis wish that he should always address her as amma, and over a period of time, Raja Sharma and Sumathi were blessed with a son, who was none other than the saintly beggar who had eaten at their house in his earlier incarnation. Raja Sharma and Sumathi named the boy as Sripada. He came of age and mastered the Vedas. With his yogic powers he recognized that the time had come for him to leave his parental home and move on. He told his parents that his partner was waiting for him to marry her and that her name was Yogasri. He told his parents that he had leave home and perform his worldly duties. Sumathi was disappointed since her boon of being amma always would not be fulfilled. Immediately, Sripada touched both his elder brothers. With the touch of Sripada, the eyes of the eldest brother were restored and the second elder brother could walk normally too. Both elder brothers addressed Sumathi as amma thereby fulfilling her desire forever. Quite soon, Sumathi realized her folly in trying to stop Sripada in fulfilling his worldly duties. Dattatreya had to move on and do more good in the world. Sumathi prayed Sripada that she misunderstood him for a son only. Sripada showed his full form to Sumathi and granted Sayujyam to her. Sripada then toured Kasi, Badarinath and Gokarna, where Sankara is revered. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 14 Gokarna Shiva Linga One day Ravana was strolling by the sea-side in Lanka. He noticed that his mother had made a Shiva Linga out of the beach mud with her hands. She was praying to that Shiva Linga, and the Linga would be washed away by the waves after her prayers. This happened quite often.

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Soon, Ravana thought to himself that he was such a great king. So, how could his mother be subjected to such indignity by the mere waves of the ocean? How could the Shiva Linga be washed away daily after his mothers prayer? He decided to bring the whole mountain of Kailasa to his mother so that she could directly pray to the Shiva Linga on the mountain or to Lord Shiva himself. So he went to Kailasa and lifted the mountain with his mighty arms and was about to walk to Lanka. This infuriated Lord Shiva who began to press the mountain back into the earth thereby crushing Ravana. Ravana was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. So he began to chant om namah shivaya as the mountain began to crush him. Hearing the chants from below the Kailasa Mountain, Lord Shiva was moved and he appeared before Ravana. Ravana sang praises of Lord Shiva and told Shiva about his mothers prayers and his need for a stable Shiva Linga. Lord Shiva told Ravana that instead of carrying the whole Kailasa Mountain to Lanka, why should Ravana not carry the Atma Linga of Lord Shiva himself. Saying thus, Lord Shiva brought out his Atma Linga and gave it to Ravana. Happily Ravana began his journey to Lanka along with the Atma Linga of Lord Shiva. Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Narada watched Ravana proceed to Lanka with the Atma Linga and were shocked. They wondered how the Bhola (Innocent) Shiva could give away his own Atma Linga to another person even if he were a staunch Shiva devotee. Would such an action not put the world in chaos due to the resultant shift in power? Narada appeared before Ravana and asked him what he was carrying. Ravana said he was carrying Shivas Atma Linga for his mothers prayers. Narada tried to divert the attention of Ravana, but failed. Soon, Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Narada appeared before Vinayaka and asked him for his help. Vinayaka walked past Ravana that evening in the form of a young brahmin lad. The Gokarna Sea was nearby and Ravana had to do his evening prayers (Sandhya Vandanam). So Ravana asked Vinayaka to hold the Shiva Linga in his hands till he completed his prayers. Vinayaka said that if the Linga got too heavy he would call out Ravanas name three times before putting it on the ground. Ravana agreed and went off to pray. By the time Ravana returned Vinayaka had put the Linga on the ground after calling out Ravanas name thrice. The Linga had stuck so firmly to the ground that Ravana could not lift it up and had to let it go. The angry Ravana hit Vinayaka on the head which can be seen on the statue in Gokarna even today. Ravana returned to Lanka empty-handed and frustrated. The Linga is now called Mahabaleshwar due to its great strength.

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Moral Stories for Children & Youth 15 Importance of Gokarna In the Ikshwaku Clan, there was a king by the name of Mitra Saha. He ruled his kingdom as per the laws of Dharma (duty) and Nyaya (fairness) laid down in the Vedas (Hindu spiritual books). One day, he went hunting. During the course of hunting, he killed a Rakshasa. We all know that a Rakshasa is an uneducated dunce who does not respect authority of a king and is a menace to Saints and Yogis living in the area. King Mitra Saha was therefore unrepentant about the killing of the Rakshasa. However, the dying Rakshasa told his younger brother to avenge his death. The young Rakshasa took a pleasing human form and came to Mitra Saha as a servant. He worked very hard and won the confidence of the King. One day, the great Sage Vasishta was visiting Mitra Saha. That day the young Rakshasa was given the duty of cooking and serving food to Sage Vasishta. Being a Rakshasa, he added human flesh in the food served to Vasishta. This angered the sage who cursed King Mitra Saha to life as a Brahma Rakshasa. A Bramha Rakshasa is an educated person who becomes equivalent to a fool due to the eclipse of the curse. King Mitra Saha felt he was no way responsible for the human flesh served in the food and was about to curse Sage Vasishta in return. Fortunately for him, the wife of Mitra Saha reminded him in a timely fashion not to curse his own Guru. She pleaded with Sage Vasishta to reduce the tenure of Mitra Saha being a Bramha Rakshasa. Vasishta obliged and reduced the tenure of the curse to just 12 years. During the 12 years, Mitra Saha lived like a wanderer killing and eating animals and humans who came in his way. On one such occasion Mitra Saha, presently the Bramha Rakshasa, killed a Brahmin man and ate him up. He got a new curse from the wife of the Brahmin man. She told him that if he ever went back to his wife and tried to live normally with her again he would die immediately. Twelve years passed, and finally Mitra Saha went back to his wife, but he hastened to tell her about the curse of the Brahmin woman. The clever wife of Mitra Saha said they should immediately proceed on a Teerth Yatra (holy voyage), visit some good temples, and meet some good sages to get rid of the curse of the Brahmin woman. Quite soon, Mitra Saha and his wife came across Sage Gautama who told them to go to Gokarna where all their sins would go away, they would be purified and they could return to ruling their kingdom. Sage Gautama told them that in Gokarna the water was pure, and all the stones were Shiva Lingas. If other holy places were synonymous to being like the moon and stars, then Gokarna was like the Sun. To the east of Gokarna were Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Indra, Surya, Chandra and the eight treasures. To the west is Varuna, the god of rain. Towards the south of Gokarna were Yama, Chitragupta, Agni, eleven rudras and ancestors. To the north were Kubera, Kali, Vayu and the seven mothers. Inside the Gokarna temple, prayers are offered by Gandharvas like Visvavasu, Chitraratha etc. Inside the temple,

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Kasyapa, Vasishta, Atri, Kanva etc. are all residing there. Ravana too did sincere prayers and took gifts from Lord Shiva here. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 16 The Test Conducted By Veda Dharma Along the Godavari River, there was the Ashram of Sage Angirasa. Many saints lived there and practiced austerities. Among these saints was the son of the Great Sage Paila whose name was Sage Veda Dharma. Veda Dharma had many disciples and wished to test who was the best among them. He gathered all his disciples and told them that through prayers he had eliminated most of his accumulated bad karmas and sins. However, a small portion of his sins still remained. He said that he had to go through a lot of pain to get liberated from his mortal coils. He told his devotees he could not get liberation through prayer alone. Veda Dharma said that he intended to go to Kasi to face the pains and get rid of the remaining bad karmas in this life itself. He told his disciples that he would have to live for 21 years as a leper, without legs and eyes. He then asked his disciples who would serve him for these 21 years unstintingly? All the disciples of Veda Dharma remained silent except Deepak. Deepak told Veda Dharma that he would become the leper without eyes and legs for 21 years instead of his Guru. To this, Veda Dharma who became happy with the gesture of Deepak replied that each one had to face his own bad karma. Deepak could not undergo the pain which was meant for Veda Dharma. Veda Dharma then went on to tell Deepak that serving a patient as an attendant for 21 years was much tougher than being the patient himself. Deepak immediately agreed to serve his guru. Together they went to Kasi (called Benaras or Varanasi nowadays). Soon Veda Dharma bathed in Gangas Mani Karnika and prayed to Lord Vishwanatha. Immediately he turned into a blind, immobile leper. Deepak built a hut for Veda Dharma to live in. Veda Dharmas body became stinking because of leprosy. Veda Dharma even lost his mental stability and also became cruel and rude towards Deepak. Instead of taking umbrage of Veda Dharmas actions and situation, Deepak became kinder and more compassionate towards his Guru with each passing day. He cleaned the wounds of the Guru and took good care of him. Deepak looked at Veda Dharma just as one looks at Kasi Vishwanatha Himself, even though he never entered the temple till then. He brought food for the Guru daily, and did not become upset when the Guru cursed the food as being too much, too less or tasteless. Soon, Kasi Vishwanatha Himself appeared before Deepak and asked him what boon he wanted. Deepak told Vishwanatha that he could not ask for any boon without consulting his Guru. Deepak went back to Veda Dharma and told him about the appearance of Vishwanatha and the grant of a boon.

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Immediately, Veda Dharma made mockery of Deepak that he only wanted a boon to escape from his duties towards the blind & immobile leper. Veda Dharma said he wanted no boon from Vishwanatha as he wanted his sufferings to end in this lifetime itself. He did not want to defer the bad karmas to another lifetime. Deepak informed Vishwanatha about the teaching of his Guru. Soon, Kasi Vishwanatha discussed this matter with Lord Vishnu, who appeared before Deepak. Deepak then led Lord Vishnu to the hut where Veda Dharma was residing. There, in front of Veda Dharma, Lord Vishnu told Deepak that his devotion to his Guru was great. Thus Lord Vishnu was compelled to give him a boon of Deepaks choice. Deepak asked for better endurance to serve his guru to the fullest. Lord Vishnu granted the boon to Deepak and said that those who serve their Gurus will always be recipients of the boons of the trinity consisting of Bramha, Vishnu and Maheswara. Deepak got the boon of eight sidhis and nine nidhis from Veda Dharma who became completely healthy instantaneously. Veda Dharma reassured that he took the leper form only to test Deepak and to give a positive message to mankind about the sanctity of the guru-disciple relationship. Veda Dharma also wanted to teach disciples about how to endure hardships and bad times in life. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 17 Humbling Vedic Pandits Once upon a time, there were two Brahmins. These two Brahmins were arrogant and went around challenging others that they were the masters of the Vedas. As proof of winning the challenge, they wanted their opponents to give it in writing that they had lost the argument of the Vedas to them. They once met the prime disciple of the Sri Guru Narasimha Saraswati and challenged him. The disciple said that to even argue about the Vedas and to give anything in writing that he has lost or won, i.e., to do both tasks, he would have to take the permissions of Sri Guru Deva. And so, the two Brahmins and the disciple went to the Guru Deva. On seeing the Brahmins the Guru Deva realized they were truly not well versed in the four Vedas. He tried to advise them. He told them how the four Vedas had been divided among the sapta rishis (seven great sages) but they did not heed him. Instead they asked the Guru himself to give it in writing that he lost to them in his understanding of the Vedas. Exactly at that moment, a Chandala (a man eater) was passing by. Sri Guru called him close by and drew seven lines on the ground, and threw sacred vibhuti powder on the Chandala and asked him to step on each of the seven lines one after the other. Each line signified one janma (life or rebirth) of the Chandala. When on the first line, the Chandala said he was a Bhil or a forest guard. On the second line, he said he was a hunter; on the third line the Chandala said he was a fisherman. On the fourth line, he said he was a farmer; on the fifth line he said his name was Soma Dutta and he was a Vysya; on the sixth line the Chandala said he was a Kshatriya King called Govardhana Varma; on the seventh line the Chandala said he was Veda Vidhu a teacher who taught the Vedas.

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Guru then told the Chandala to challenge and argue with the two Brahmins using his knowledge of his seventh janma as Veda Vidhu. Seeing this fearsome turn of events, the arrogant Brahmins realized they would be outwitted by Veda Vidhu who was a veda teacher in his previous janma. They begged forgiveness from Guru Deva and stopped asking for written documents from others to prove that they were better vedic scholars. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 18 Chandalas Life One day a Chandala was passing by the residence of Sri Guru. He saw Guru and wanted to know why he had become a Chandala out of all the possible janmas (lives or rebirths). Guru reminded him of all his previous seven janmas which were greater and better than his present low level janma. The reason why he had become like this in this janma was because he had disrespected his own parents in his previous janma. To destroy the ill-effect of this the Guru told him to bathe in the Sangam waters (where Bhima and Amaraja rivers meet) for one month. The Sri Guru also told him to do the Gayatri Japam for 1 lakh (100,000) times and never disrespect his parents again in any janma. The Gayatri Japam is as follows: Om Bhur Bhuva Suvaha, Tat Savitura Varenyam, Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi, Dheeyo Yonah Prachodayat. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 19 The Healed Leper Sri Guru Narasimha Saraswati once had a poor disciple who had leprosy. He had no wealth and no health but had great devotion in Sri Guru. He had lost all his knowledge and good looks. No one invited him to their residence for any occasion. To cure him, Sri Guru took out a dried stick from a bunch of dried tree sticks and gave it to the disciple. He told the disciple to go to Sangam and plant the stick in the soil just as a tree would be planted, water it and pray to it just as he would pray to Sri Guru. The disciple went to Sangam and found a place where he planted the dried stick in the ground and began watering it. He prayed to it too. The dried stick would not grow. How could it? Everyone at Sangam laughed at him and thought he was making a fool of himself. This was because it was just a dried stick planted in the ground. There was no seed in the ground. However, the disciple stuck firm. He knew that Sri Gurus words were great and would come true. Sangam was the place where two rivers met - the Bhima and the Amaraja - while the Guru with his own knowledge and powers represented the third mythical river. If the three rivers met even leprosy patients could become equivalent to gods. Finally after a lot of prayer and watering the dried stick planted in the ground, the Guru

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appeared. He took out a little water from his kamandala (jug) and sprinkled it on the dried stick, and lo and behold! The dried stick grew into a great big tree with green branches, leaves, flowers, shade and fruit. Instantly the disciple was cured of leprosy and he got a fine splendid, shining and attractive body, and soon became rich and a welcome guest in his friends households. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 20 The Honest Disciple Sri Guru Narasimha Saraswati often walked past the field of one farmer who was a disciple. The disciple always fell at the feet of the Guru when the Guru walked past the field. One day the Guru asked him Why do you always fall at my feet? Will you always do what I say? The disciple replied saying Yes, Guruji, I will always do as you say. Then Sri Guru looked at the field of the disciple. The field was growing corn. All the corn was only of the size of baby corn at that time. The Guru told the disciple to cut the corn immediately. The disciple agreed and left to his house. He told his wife that he was going to cut the corn. She got scared that he was going to cut the corn which was already growing well. She went and told the owner of the field that her husband was going to cut the baby corn. The field-owner took a written document from the disciple that two yields of full sized corn were due to him from the disciple at the end of the season. After taking this written document, he allowed the disciple to do what he wished with the baby corn and the field. The disciple then went and cut the baby corn as instructed by the Guru. After a few days, heavy rains began. All those who did not cut their baby corns lost their entire crops. The disciple who cut his crop got ten times his original crop because he cut it on time for the monsoon and rains after taking the advice of the Guru. Soon, the disciple gave two portions of the yield to the field-owner and kept two portions for his own sales. He gave away six portions to others who had lost their entire crop. Then one day, he saw the Guru passing by his field. He went to Sri Guru to explain what had happened. As soon as he fell at Sri Gurus feet and before he could speak a word, Sri Guru said he gave him ten portions of corn only because he knew the disciple would distribute six portions to the poor and downtrodden and keep only two portions for himself. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 21 The Persistent Student There once was a young man who was studying Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in S.V.University in Andhra Pradesh. As a part of his course, he had a second language examination. Being from a rural background, his chosen second language was General Telugu. In the General Telugu language paper he had to study literature and translation. Being from a good family, he worked hard for the examination. He studied Telugu literature and translation day and night. On the day of the examination, he was ready

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to face the General Telugu paper. In the examination hall, he found that along with all his classmates, he was seated with Special Telugu students who were about to take the Special Telugu examination. Soon, the question paper arrived and it so happened that due to oversight even the B.A. students were given the Special Telugu question paper instead of the General Telugu question paper. The B.A. students protested to the Hall Supervisor who then sent a request to the Examination supervisor. In the meanwhile, the Hall Supervisor asked the General Telugu students to attempt whatever questions they knew in the Special Telugu question paper. The young man did not know anything in the literature section in the Special Telugu question paper but he could understand the translation section entirely. The story of Devadas written by Sarath Chandra was given in English. In addition to translating the story, the question required students to critically examine the roles played by each of the characters in the story. After one and half hours, the university sent a reply that only translation in the Special Telugu paper would carry the entire 100 marks for the General Telugu students. All the General Telugu students began leaving the hall in one and half hours or one hour and forty five minutes in a disgruntled fashion, after making half-hearted attempts at translating the Devadas story. However, the young man continued reading the English sentences in the story and kept looking for better Telugu words and sentences to translate for the whole three hours of the examination. He also critically analyzed the roles played by the hero and the heroine in the story, and even criticized the weakness of character of the hero in good Telugu words. When the results were declared, they were declared only on the basis of the translation section in the Special Telugu question paper and the young man was the only one who got the first class among all his B.A. Classmates. All the others were awarded second class. This success was simply because he kept on looking persistently for slightly better words and better translation for the whole three hours and kept on concentrating on what he could do better in the critical analysis section of the Special Telugu question paper. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 22 Test of Attitude Once upon a time there was a village fair. There were a number of open carts going on the road to attend the village fair. The open carts were drawn by bullocks and had men sitting on them guiding the bullocks in the right direction. All of a sudden there was a heavy downpour of rain. There was heavy thunder too accompanying the rain. The first open cart had a whole load of salt in it. The salt melted in the heavy rain. The whole load was wasted away. The man in the front of

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the cart began to cry. He had lost his cart load of wares which he wanted to sell at the village fair. It was no surprise that he was crying. The second open cart had a whole load of gram (moong dal and toor dal) in it. With the heavy rain pouring on the gram, the gram got soaked and bloated as if it had already been cooked. The man in front of this cart also began to cry quite loudly. His cart load of wares also would not be salable because the gram looked and felt as if it was pre-cooked. The third open cart had a whole load of plantain leaves and betel leaves in it. With the heavy rain beating on the leaves, they only looked fresher and more salable. But, the man in front saw his companions crying and began crying more loudly than them lest he show them the utter joy inside him. He beat his chest and began crying aloud and inconsolably. The moral of the story is to be aware of the wrong attitude of some people who show they are suffering when in reality they are in great pleasure. It is better that their wrong signals are never acknowledged by genuine people. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 23 Three Fish Once upon a time, there was a stream. In that stream, there were three fish. The first fish was named Futuristic. Futuristic always planned for the future. It always thought of what would happen to the stream in three months, in six months, in twelve months, in twenty-four months, in five years, and so on. It had a scientific approach. The second fish was named Spontaneous. It had lots of ideas to get out of difficult situations. For example, it knew all the exit routes from the stream, the various ways to dive deep into the water, and it knew the different ways to jump out of danger etc. Spontaneous was also very active and had friends among fellow-fish. The third fish was called Just Another. Just Another never planned for the future, nor did it know the tricks to get out of difficult situations. One fine day, Futuristic swam to sea level and checked the mean temperature of the sun. It seemed to Futuristic that it was too hot. Given this kind of temperature, and considering the depth of the stream, the stream would dry up within a month. Saying this aloud to Spontaneous and Just Another, Futuristic said it was leaving the stream and going out to a bigger pond, lake, river or sea. It hoped Spontaneous and Just Another would join, but that did not happen. Soon, the stream began to dry up. A fisherman came by and caught both Spontaneous and Just Another in his net. Being an athletic fish, Spontaneous jumped out of the net before it lost its life and back into the water and swam out into sea. However, Just Another died in the fishermans net. Just Another was the kind of fish who would perish without a fight when all the others perish. It simply left things to destiny. Therefore, it is for us to decide whether we wish to be like Futuristic, Spontaneous or Just Another. Whichever route we choose to take in our lives, be rest assured that God

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is with us, and with complete faith in Him, we can get a higher rebirth in a prosperous and devout family, as promised in the Bhagavad Gita. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 24 Do Your Duty & Be Quiet Once upon a time, there was a washer man. He washed the dirty clothes of people in a small town. He owned a donkey and a dog. The donkeys duty was to carry the entire load of dirty laundry of the townsfolk to the river outside the town. There, on the river bank, the washer man washed the clothes with soap and then dried them. After the clothes dried, partially at least, he would put all the clothes back on the donkeys back and bring them into the city to his home. Once the clothes were back at the washer mans home the clothes would be hung on ropes to dry further for a day or two before being folded and returned to the owners in the town. The duty of the dog was to take care that the clothes were not robbed by anyone when they were drying either on the river bank or outside the home of the washer man on the clothes lines. The washer man had the duty of not only feeding himself but also feeding the donkey and the dog. The washer man figured out that he worked hardest among the three because he actually washed each and every cloth with soap and water. So he ate the most. He then decided that the donkey worked quite hard as he carried loads of clothes back and forth. So he fed the donkey commensurately. The washer man then decided that the dog worked the least as it only had to bark when there was a thief, which was quite rare. So he fed the dog the least food. This irritated the dog which felt it was being underfed. Soon enough, one night a thief appeared. He was taking away a number of clothes. The dog and the donkey noticed this. The dog made a decision that since it was being underfed it would not bark. The donkey, however, began to bray to alert its master. The thief took the clothes and ran away but the master, whose sound sleep was disturbed by the incessant braying of the donkey, came out and gave a sound trashing to the donkey. The donkey died because of the beating. The next morning the washer man realized his mistake. He had not only lost the clothes and the trust of his customers but also his donkey, and was left only with an underfed dog. He realized that he should have fed his dog normally, in which case it would have barked and awoken him to the theft. Is it not true that a donkey should only do the job of a donkey, while a dog should only do the job of a dog? When roles & responsibilities get interchanged, serious accidents happen in our day-to-day lives too. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 25 Everything Happens for Good Once upon a time, there lived a King who loved to go hunting. He often went hunting with his Minister. On one such hunting visit, he had a fierce fight with a lion and lost the little finger of his left hand. He bled profusely and was very bitter about it and remarked sadly about the loss of the little finger to his minister.

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The well meaning minister said - O King! Everything happens for the good. The minister meant that the King had not lost his entire life in the fight with the lion, and had only lost his almost useless little finger of his left hand. But the egoistic King took umbrage of the words of the Minister and put him in jail. The King fumed How dare my Minister say that it is good that my little finger is gone? The next week the King went for hunting again. This time the king went alone as the Minister was languishing in jail. He went deep into the forests. Nightfall came soon. Unfortunately for the King he was held captive by a tribal group. It was the full moon night. It was the custom of the tribal group to give a full human being as sacrifice to the tribal goddess on each such full moon night. So they took the King to the tribal temple and were about to give him as sacrifice before the goddess. Just moments before they chopped off the head of the King they realized that he was one little finger short of a full human being and so the tribal group let him go free. That was the moment when the King realized the meaning of his ministers words that everything happened for the good. The King rushed to the palace and immediately gave orders to set the Minister free. He narrated the whole incident to the Minister, and then accepted why the loss of only the little finger and not his whole life was actually good for him. He then ventured to ask the Minister why the jailing was good for Minister. The Minister replied that if he had not been jailed the tribal group would have killed him instead since he was a full human being who could have been sacrificed to the tribal goddess, had he accompanied the king as usual on his hunting trip! Moral Stories for Children & Youth 26 Signs of Danger Once upon a time, there were four little birds living with their mother in a nest on the branch of a big tree. The little birds were just born and could not fly on their own. The mother brought them food grains every evening and fed them. The little birds waited the whole day in the nest for the mother to return in the evening. One day the mother bird was away when the little birds heard a man standing below the tree branch speak to his brother that the tree should be cut down. As soon as the mother returned in the evening and fed them, the little birds cried aloud and told the mother what happened. The little birds told the mother bird that the very next day the brother of the man would come with some people and cut down the tree. To this the mother bird replied that nothing would happen, and told the little birds not to worry. True to the word of the mother bird, nothing happened to the tree the next day. The brother of the man who wanted the tree to be cut did not come with his people and did not cut the tree. So, the little birds rejoiced in the evening when the mother returned to feed them. For three or four days, nobody came to cut the tree and the little birds were not worried as they were getting their food and none had disturbed their residence. Then again one day, they heard the same mans voice under the branch, but this time he was talking loudly with his son and not with his brother. He was telling his son that his

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brother had failed him, and that he had not cut down the tree. The man was asking his son to get someone to cut down the tree. The petrified little birds again cried out to their mother in the evening when she returned that this time the son would get someone to cut down the tree the next day. The mother again heard the story from her baby birds and said nothing would happen. True to her words, nothing happened. The son did not appear with his people nor was the tree cut down the next day. The little birds grew confident that nobody would ever cut down their tree and nobody would destroy their nest. A week passed. One day the mother returned in the evening as usual. The little birds were neither crying nor petrified as before. They simply informed their mother that the man had come again with his son and this time he had scolded his son for not getting the tree cut down and said that he would get it cut down by himself. The little birds hastened to add that they were not worried because it would not happen as it had not happened twice before. However, the mother cautioned that the real danger was when man decided to take action by himself. The mother taught her baby birds that when man depends on his brother or his son or other kith and kin, things never happen, but when he himself decides on a task, then it is a sign of real danger. Saying so, the mother fed the baby birds and then began moving them one by one to a safer place on that very night itself. True to her word, the tree was felled the next day, and the nest was destroyed. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 27 True Devotion to Abirami Once upon a time, there lived a great devotee of Goddess Abirami in Tamilnadu. His name was Subhrahmanyam. He was so devoted to Her that he preached about Her to one and all. He gathered groups of people near the Abirami temple, preached about Her, and told them that the Goddess had the power to perform great miracles. One day he was preaching in the same manner to a group of people. Unknown to him, the King Saraboji of that province was listening to him as one of the members of the group. The king had appeared there dressed as a common man. At that moment, the devotee said that Goddess Abirami could perform miracles like making a no moon day into a full moon day. Immediately the king stepped forward, came out of his incognito status, and challenged the devotee to prove it on the next no moon day by making it a full moon day. The king said if the devotees words failed then he would be beheaded. The next no moon day came. The devotee offered prayers to Goddess Abirami as usual. Fear gripped the devotee that there would be no full moon and he would get beheaded, but help arrived, especially because the devotee sang 100 songs on Goddess Abirami called the Abirami Anthathi. Goddess Abirami is known to have the sun and moon as Her two ear-rings. She is said to have plucked the ear-ring which signifies the moon and thrown it up into the skies in order to save her devotee. The fully rounded golden ear-ring shone brightly in the sky and was equivalent to the full moon. The king, on seeing the full moon

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spared the devotee, gave him the title Abirami Pattar, and became a devotee of Goddess Abirami himself. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 28 Ekalavya During the time that the Pandavas and Kauravas were getting trained by Dronacharya, there was a unique student called Ekalavya. Drona was teaching archery to the Pandavas and Kauravas in a remote place outside Hastinapura. It was the ashram of Drona and it was here that a Nishada lad called Ekalavya was watching the entire proceedings discretely. The Nishada lad wanted to learn archery from Drona. Finally, he summoned the courage to approach Drona for the same. Drona told the Nishada lad that he taught archery only to the high born and the princes. So, Ekalavya was dejected, but he was determined to learn archery and went back to discretely watching the guru teach Arjuna. After watching the guru teach Arjuna he installed a clay statue of Drona. Then, Ekalavya prayed to the clay statue and practiced, in front of the statue, all the steps that the guru taught Arjuna. In a while, Ekalavya was as good an archer as Arjuna. Soon, Ekalavya went back to Drona and told him that he had mastered all the steps that he had seen him teach Arjuna. Drona tested Ekalavya and realized that Ekalavya was as good an archer as Arjuna. This presented a problem for Drona. Dronacharya was preparing Arjuna with the sole purpose of redeeming himself from the humiliation meted out to him by King Drupada. Arjuna alone understood the false egos of kings and how to curtail them correctly. Only Arjuna could handle kings with ease, since he had been bred up in a royal atmosphere. An equally talented Nishada tribal lad would be of no use to Drona. Drona also understood that such a talented Nishada lad could be misused against Arjuna by negative or darker forces. Hence Drona was forced by circumstances to come up with a plan. When Ekalavya asked what Drona wanted as guru dakshina (fee to the master), Drona asked for the thumb of Ekalavyas right hand. The thumb of the right hand is a very important finger for archers. Without thinking twice, Ekalavya cut the thumb of his right hand and gave it away to Drona. Drona immediately blessed Ekalavya to be the teacher of all Nishada archers. The moral of the story is that it is better to get the anugraha (full and complete blessing) of a Guru before studying a particular subject, or else we will be unable to utilize the subject we have studied to its full value. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 29 Karnas Benevolence Karna was known as a great donor. He never thought of the repercussions of his donations. He was always a benevolent giver. The story below proves the point. Once upon a time, there was a heavy rain. A Brahmin went to the court of Duryodhana. The Brahmin was begging for dry firewood to conduct a yagna (sacrifice). Only dry wood was needed for the sacrifice. All the available wood was wet because of the heavy rain. Duryodhana told the Brahmin he had no wood to spare, and excused himself.

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The Brahmin decided to ask Karna instead. The Brahmin reached the palace of Karna and asked for dry firewood in order to conduct a sacrifice. Karna knew it was raining heavily outside and the firewood outside would be wet. So, Karna immediately pulled down all the wood inside his palace and handed over the same to the Brahmin. All the wooden pillars, the decorative arches, the doors and the windows were broken down and given to the Brahmin without a further word. The Brahmin got his dry wood for conducting the sacrifice. The Brahmin became happy and went his way. The Brahmin blessed Karna that his name will be remembered as Daana Karna (Great Donor Karna) as long as the sun and the moon exist. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 30 Krishna & Kuchela (Sudama) Kuchela (Sudama) was a classmate of Krishna. Both Krishna and Kuchela had studied together under the tutelage of Sage Saandipani. Krishna became the rich and prosperous King of Dwaraka, while Kuchela being a Brahmin led a life of poverty. Kuchela got married and had children. One fine day, the wife of Kuchela asked him to go and see Krishna with the hope of alleviating their poverty. She packed flattened, pounded rice in a small bag as a gift for Krishna from Kuchela. When Kuchela reached the palace in Dwaraka, Krishna recognized Kuchela immediately and welcomed him inside. Krishna even washed the tired feet of the visitor with water. (This is in sharp contrast to King Drupada who chose to ignore his childhood classmate Dronacharya when the latter visited him in his palace, consequently earning the ire of Drona). Krishna then wondered what Kuchela had brought for him. Kuchela offered Krishna the small bag of flattened, pounded rice. Krisha ate a handful of the rice to signify that Kuchelas poverty had ended with that moment; then, Krishna ate a second handful of the rice for the sustained prosperity of Kuchela. Lord Krishna then enjoyed the rice and exclaimed - Aah! in joy. Krishna was about to eat the third handful of the pounded, flattened rice, which stands for moksha or liberation, when Rukmini, the consort of Krishna alerted Him not to eat any further. Exactly at that moment, Kuchelas poor tatched hut was converted into a golden palace and there was food and wealth in plenty in it. Kuchela had not even asked anything from the omniscient, omnipresent Lord but everything had been granted to him. The Lords understanding was such that He knew what was needed and gave everything unasked! On returning to his home, Kuchela could not even recognize it nor could he recognize his own children and wife who were bedecked in gold, precious jewels and wealth. The moral of this story is that if we have pure and unsullied devotion to Lord Krishna, and if we offer Him even a leaf, flower or water with pure love in our hearts, then He will take care of us in equivalent proportion of our Bhakti towards Him.

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Moral Stories for Children & Youth 31 Together we stand, Divided we fall Once upon a time, a father had four sons. The four sons came of age. They were each in their twenties and ready to take on the world. They were educated, but the problem was that they were not in harmony with each other. Each wanted to go out on his own into the world without caring for the other. So the father decided to teach them a lesson. One day he tied together four sticks. He summoned his four sons. He gave the four sticks to his elder son and asked him to break the sticks without removing the thread that bound the sticks together. The elder son had the pride that he was physically strongest, but he failed to break the sticks when they were fastened together. Then, the father gave the same sticks to the second son. The second son had the pride that he was most intelligent. He used all his intelligence but failed to break the four sticks when they were tied together. The father then passed on the four sticks to his third son who had the pride that he was most creative among the four. He used all his creative skills but failed to break the four sticks that were fastened together. The fourth son prided himself as being the management expert among the four, but he too failed at breaking the four sticks that were tied together. Then the father opened the knot that tied the four sticks together and gave it to the four boys. Now the sticks were easy to break since they were only single sticks and did not have the benefit of reinforcement of the other three sticks. After breaking the sticks, the sons understood the lesson. The elder one spoke up first. He said that he realized that when he and his brothers were together no one could break them, but if he was alone he could be broken. The other sons nodded their understanding that unless they remained together they could be devastated individually. The fathers concern about his sons going away in four different ways had been addressed and the sons had been taught a simple lesson. The father had shown that unless strength, intelligence, creativity and management skills came together nothing could be achieved. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 32 The Curse on Dasaratha King Dasaratha, the father of Rama, once went hunting. This incident happened before the birth of Rama. Dasaratha was known for the skill called Shabda Bedhi. This means that he could hear an animal at a distance and shoot an arrow in a particular direction and kill it, without actually seeing it. During one such hunting incident, Dasaratha heard movements near a stream of water and shot an arrow in the direction of the sound. Unknowingly, the arrow struck a human being called Sravana Kumar, and not an animal. Dasaratha heard the cries of the human being who had been struck and rushed to the place.

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Sravana Kumar, just before dying, told Dasaratha that he had two elder parents who were both blind. He had been carrying them in baskets and was on a pilgrimage. Now, he could not proceed further. In addition to that, he could not care for his elderly blind parents in their old age. Sravana Kumar asked Dasaratha to take care of his elder parents. Then, Sravana Kumar breathed his last. Then Dasaratha visited the elder parents and informed them that Sravana Kumar had died because of him. Immediately, this upset the parents of Sravana Kumar, and they cursed Dasaratha that he too will suffer from putra shoka or sorrow from separation of son in his ripe old age like them. For a moment, Dasaratha was happy because he did not have a son. For the curse to take effect, a son would have to be born to him. Only later, did the real sorrow dawn on him in his old age when Kaikeyi wished that Bharata should ascend the throne, and Rama had to be banished from the kingdom. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 33 A Vile Wife Snubbed Once upon a time, there lived a poet. He was married and lived with his old parents. His wife was unkind to his old parents, but she never let her husband know that she was unkind to them. How she achieved this and how the poet eventually won over her is the rest of this story. She asked the potter of the village to make a pot with a partition wall in the center. On one side of the partition she cooked costly and good rice, while on the other side of the partition she cooked broken rice which was not sorted for stones and dirt. The clean rice was served to the husband, and the dirty, broken rice was served to the parents of the husband. The wall in the pot was the separator of the good and low quality rice. The husband was unaware of the wall in the pot, and consequently, the two qualities of rice being cooked at the same time in the household. The parents of the husband being elder and humble did not raise a hue and cry about the poor quality of food being served to them. The health of the elder parents deteriorated slowly but surely. One fine day, the husband was returning from the kings court. He met the village potter on the way. The potter gave him a pot and asked him to give it to his wife. When the husband looked into the pot he got a shock. He saw a partition wall in the middle of the pot. He questioned the potter why there was a partition wall. The potter said that the partition wall has existed since two or three years in the pots used in the poets household, and that the matter should be discussed with the poets wife. The poet went back home. His wife was away at the river fetching water for the household. He opened the other pot where the rice was cooked. There he saw two qualities of rice. He immediately served the high quality rice to his parents. Then the wife returned. She saw that the husband had seen everything. She offered to cook fresh food for the husband. The husband told her she had lost her right to cook any more food in the house. The wife apologized profusely, but the

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matter was referred to the village head (panchayat grama adhikari). The village head decided that since the wife was sorry, the wife had to accept her vile action of feeding her in-laws low quality food for years and also take responsibility for their poor health, in front of the whole village, and never repeat her actions. The village head also told the poet to accept that he was negligent not to keep a check on a daily basis as to what food his parents were eating. This is how the matter was solved at the Panchayat level. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 34 Sayandeva There once was a devotee of Sri Guru Narasimha Saraswati called Sayandeva. Sayandeva used to work for a certain vile Christian King. The King had a practice of killing one Brahmin every year. Sayandeva was a Brahmin and he began to feel that it was his turn that year. So, Sayandeva went to Sri Guru for his help. He told Sri Guru that for the sake of feeding himself, he worked for the Christian King, or else he would not go to the King. He told Sri Guru that it would be his turn to be killed by the King this year. To this, Sri Guru told him not to worry. He would not be killed by the King, since he had faith in Sri Guru. Sri Guru went on to tell Sayandeva that he would only receive gifts from the King. This made the poor Brahmin Sayandeva happy and he returned to the King for work. That night instead of being killed, Sayandeva slept well. At the same time the King had a night of bad dreams. He dreamt that he was being chopped to pieces by a Brahmin. He dreamt that he was in great pain and suffering. Suddenly, the King realized the pain he was causing to the poor Brahmins whom he was killing, since he was feeling pain in his dream. In the morning, the Christian King called Sayandeva and told him that he had not called him to come back and work for him like a slave. Instead, he gave Sayandeva many gifts and treated him well. After taking the gifts, Sayandeva took leave of the King and returned to Sri Guru. Sayandeva gladly told Sri Guru that his life had been spared by the King. Sri Guru gladly accepted Sayandeva in the ashram as a disciple, where he lived happily ever after. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 35 Karna A Man of his Word Just before the Mahabharata war began, Kunti Devi, the mother of the Pandavas met Karna. Karna was the eldest son of Kunti Devi, but due to various circumstances, she had to give him up. Now, Karna was a grown man and was fighting the war against the Pandavas. In fact, Karna was the best friend of Duryodhana who was the head of the Kauravas. In this Kaurava Pandava war, Kunti was sure that some of her five Pandava sons would be killed by Karna. This was the reason that Kunti Devi went to meet Karna. In the meeting Kunti Devi requested Karna not to kill any of her five Pandava sons, who were also Karnas younger brothers. However, Karna replied to her that he had given his word to his best friend Duryodhana that he would kill the supreme Pandava archer Arjuna. Karna repeated this promise to his mother Kunti and told her that he would spare the lives of the remaining four Pandavas Dharmaraja (Yudhishtra), Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva, but he could not spare Arjuna from certain death.

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Karna was indebted to Duryodhana because from being just the son of a charioteer, Karna had been elevated by Duryodhana to the status of Anga Raja (King of the Anga Kingdom). Karna, therefore, reasoned to his mother that she would anyway have five sons after the war, including him. Either Arjuna or he would be alive after the war. Soon the war began. During the war, many instances occurred where Karna could have killed Dharmaraja, Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva. But Karna kept up his word to his mother and spared their lives on all occasions. At the same time, Karna also kept up his word to his best friend, Duryodhana, and engaged only Arjuna in many battles. Ultimately, it was Arjuna who killed Karna and not the other way around, but Karna goes down in history as a man who kept up his word to both his mother and his best friend. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 36 Dealing with the Lazy Donkey Once upon a time, there was a man who sold salt. To sell the salt, he had to fill it in cloth bags, mount the bags on a donkey, cross a stream of water along with the donkey, reach a market on the other side of the stream, and then sell the salt in the market. One day the salt trader was already late to the market, so he pestered his donkey to go faster through the stream. The donkey, while moving faster through the water slipped, and therefore sat in the stream for a few seconds due to the load of salt on its back. Within this time, an amount of salt melted away into the stream and the load on the donkeys back was lighter when it got up again. Hence the donkey was able to travel faster through the stream and reach the market faster. However, the salt trader made losses that day because he had lesser salt to sell. Now the donkey had become clever. It realized that if it sat in the water for a few seconds daily while crossing the stream, a bit of the salt would melt, and the load on its back would decrease giving it some relief. For one week after the first incident, the donkey sat in the water everyday for a few seconds and purposefully let the salt melt so that the load on its back was lighter and it could move faster. This was good for the donkey, but bad for the salt trader. He was making losses everyday for a whole week as he had lesser salt to sell. The salt trader realized that he was losing salt and money because the donkey was sitting in the water and letting the salt to melt away. But, he did not have a solution to the problem. Luckily, the salt trader had a friend. The friend was a washer man. The washer man advised the salt trader to make small piles of cloth similar to the salt piles and load the donkey for three days. The washer man told the salt trader not to carry or sell salt for the next three days. As advised, the salt trader carried only many small piles of cloth in the salt bag loaded on the donkey. On the first day, the donkey sat in the water. The cloth in the salt bag got soaked and made the bag heavy. The donkey felt the extra weight and had to struggle to get past the stream. The same thing happened on the second day. From the third day, the donkey stopped sitting in the water fearing that it would have to carry heavier loads if it sat in the water. From the fourth day onwards, the salt trader carried

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his regular loads of salt. The donkey never sat in the stream thereafter and the trader never made losses any longer. The moral of the story is that there are clever, systemic ways to come out of problems created by lazy people. All problems do not have to be approached through violence. Violence is the last and least effective solution always. In the above story, the salt trader never beat his donkey, but solved his problem. There is always a way to tactfully get things done, which we have to figure out for ourselves in various situations. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 37 The Class Leader There once was a school boy who did well in class. He was a student of Standard V. Since he did well in class, the Class Teacher nominated him as the Class Leader. On any day at school, students were expected to attend eight periods, each lasting forty minutes. The Class Leaders job was to ensure that all the students in the class kept silent during the time gap that existed between two periods. The Class Teacher also instructed the Class Leader that if a teacher did not come within fifteen minutes of the start of his or her period, then the Class Leader could let the students go out to play, since they would become too noisy in class and disturb other classes in the building. One day, the last two periods were to be conducted by the Class Teacher himself. However, due to some personal problems, he did not turn up for the first fifteen minutes of the seventh period. The students became noisy and demanded to go out to play. Hence, the Class Leader took a decision to send away the students to play. Some students who lived close-by even went home, since it was the last two periods that had been canceled. The Class Teacher came to class after twenty minutes, but much to his dismay all the students had left. The School Principal came to know that the class had been disbanded. The School Principal did not mind the students going to play within the school compound, when the teacher was not available but he was strictly against them going home early, all by themselves, since they could be involved in road traffic accidents or other such disasters. The Principal got to know that some students reached home one hour and twenty minutes earlier than schedule. This also raised questions in parents minds about the schools reputation, which the Principal disliked. The Class Teacher had not clearly instructed the Class Leader that the students were not to be allowed to go home, but only allowed to play within the school compound when teachers were absent in the last two periods. To the Class Leader, it seemed like the mistake of the Class Teacher. As far as the Class Leader was concerned he felt he had only done his duty by sending away noisy students after fifteen minutes of waiting. In the meanwhile, the Principal had summoned the Class Teacher and told him he would lose his job unless it was proven that it was the mistake of the Class Leader.

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The Class Teacher rushed to the residence of the Class Leader, met him, and requested him to take the blame and punishment for sending away the students. The Class Teacher also requested the Class Leader to state that he had been clearly instructed to only send students for games within the school, and not to their homes in case of absence of teachers. The Class Teacher pleaded that he would lose his job if the Class Leader spoke otherwise. The Class Leader was caned by the Principal the next day for sending the students home. Like a true leader, the Class Leader, took responsibility for someone elses mistakes and thereby saved the job of the Class Teacher. The moral of the story is that many a time, leaders have to smilingly accept mistakes they have never committed for the sake of amity, empathy and teamwork. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 38 Supra-natural connections There once lived a doctor in Triplicane area in Madras (now Chennai). He had a private practice in the first room of his residence. He was well known in the Triplicane area as a very good doctor. His name was Dr. Ramaswamy, and he was about 45 years old when this story occurred in 1970. Dr. Ramaswamy had an elder brother whose name was Dr. Krishnaswamy, aged about 47 years, who was working as a Doctor in a big government hospital in Pondicherry, which is about 180 kilometers south of Madras. Both Dr. Ramaswamy and his elder brother Dr. Krishnaswamy were sons of one Mr. Narasimhan of Pondicherry. Mr. Narasimhan loved his sons very much, worked very hard for their sake, and gave them good education in medicine. Both sons loved their father immensely as he had contributed a lot to their lives by educating them and making both of them MBBS qualified doctors. Mr. Narasimhan had become very old, was nearly 80 years of age, and was living with his elder son in Pondicherry. The mother of Dr. Ramaswamy and Dr. Krishnaswamy had passed away many years earlier and so their father was a widower. One late night, Mr. Narasimhan became very ill due to his old age and was admitted to the hospital where Dr. Krishnaswamy worked. The illness was so intense that at exactly 5:00 AM in the morning, the father passed away in the hospital. Dr. Krishnaswamy knew about the death of his father but was unable to inform Dr. Ramaswamy, as Dr. Ramaswamy did not have a telephone at his home. It must be remembered that in the 1970s there were very few telephones in India. Telegrams were the only mode of communication of urgent information and the post office would open only at 8:30 AM. It is widely believed, in retrospect, that exactly at 5:00 AM, the father, Mr. Narasimhan, appeared before his son, Dr. Ramaswamy in Triplicane in Madras in normal human form, knocked at the door of his residence and said - Why are you still here when Krishnaswamy is waiting for you in the hospital at Pondicherry? You must leave to Pondicherry immediately. Within a minute, unbeknown to Dr. Ramaswamy, Mr. Narasimhan is said to have left the spot. The baffled Dr. Ramaswamy took the next bus to Pondicherry only to realize

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that his father had passed away at the exact moment when he appeared in front of his door in Madras. The moral of this story is that supra-natural interactions do occur when people love each other very much. The supreme soul connects us with our near and dear souls when needed. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 39 Suicide is Not a Solution There once was a boy called Kamal who lived in a village. About 10 kilometers from the village, there was a town. Kamal studied in the best school in the town. Kamal had a younger brother called Rajesh who also went to the same school. They traveled by the town bus to reach school daily. Kamal was in 10th standard, while Rajesh was in the 7th standard. Both Kamal and Rajesh were from an agricultural family. Kamals parents, uncles and grandparents were all farmers. Kamal and Rajesh were the first ones in the family to get a school education. Kamal had completed his 10th standard board examinations and was enjoying his holidays. Soon, the results of the 10th standard board exams were declared. Kamal hurried to the own to check his result. When he saw the result he was disappointed and dejected as he had failed his examinations. The results had been published in the morning newspaper. The newspaper was available in the town, but since the village was 10 kilometers away, the newspaper would reach Kamals parents only after 24 hours. Kamal was so dejected and mentally disturbed to see that he had failed in the exam that he returned to the village, but instead of going straight to his home and discussing the problem with his parents and grandparents, he went to the farm that the family owned. At the farm, Kamal consumed pesticide poison, which was stored there to destroy crop pests, and committed suicide. He died within minutes of reaching the farm, unnoticed by anyone. His dead body was discovered a day later. The same day the parents also got to see the published result in the newspaper that their son had failed his 10th standard final examination. After cremating Kamal, the first reaction of the parents was to stop Rajesh from going to school any longer. The parents told the school principal that they would not like to lose the life of their second child too in case he failed. Rajesh was a bright student, whose academic career ended with his elder brothers death. Rajesh was asked to work in the farm from that day onwards and never go back to school. This story poses some interesting and thought provoking questions to the educated mind: (a) Did Kamal not have friends whom he could confide in and seek solace from? (b) Why did Kamal not discuss his failure in the final examination with his parents? (c) Did Kamal not create a support system either with his school teachers or his grandparents? (d) Did Kamal not trust his parents and friends? (e) Is suicidal death the only answer to failure? (f) Is suicide not an extreme step?

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(g) Why did Kamal compare himself to only those who passed and did better than himself? (h) Is it not true that many of us fail at many things we do, but we take strength from the fact that there are people who are less lucky than ourselves? (i) Is it not true that success or failure in 10th standard and 12th standard exams is not necessarily indicative of success or failure in life? (j) Do we humans have a right to commit suicide when God has given us our lives? (k) Is it not true that success and failure are two sides of the same coin in our lives, and both have to be accepted gracefully? (l) Was Kamal the victim of high expectations of his parents, teachers, classmates, and society in general? Moral Stories for Children & Youth 40 Persistence and Attention to Detail There once was a student named Keshav. He was studying Mechanical Engineering at one of the prestigious Government Engineering colleges in Karnataka. Keshav was a meritorious student. He was studying in the sixth semester of the eight semester Engineering course. In all the previous five semesters, Keshav had passed with distinction. His percentage was always greater than 75%. In the 6th semester examinations, Keshav performed very well as usual. He expected to get the distinction again. However, when the results were declared he realized that he did not get the distinction, but only got a first class. When he saw the mark sheet, he realized that one particular subject had pulled his marks down. He had got over 75% in all other subjects. He was sure he had done well in that particular subject as well. There had to be a mistake in the marks that he got. Keshav was devoted to God, and so he prayed. After his prayers, he realized he had two options. The first option was re-evaluation of the answer paper, and the second option was re-totaling of the answer paper of that particular subject. The procedure was to apply to the University for re-evaluation or re-totaling. Keshav discussed with his friends about both options. His friends discouraged him to go for re-evaluation. His friends reasoned that re-evaluation may further lower his marks, if the professor conducting the re-evaluation was very strict. He agreed with his friends that re-evaluation was not a suitable option. Keshav again meditated and prayed to God. This time he got a brilliant idea. His meditation and prayers reminded him that he had submitted 11 additional answer sheets in that subject. He decided to go for re-totaling, but also decided to mention on the re-totaling application form that he had submitted 11 additional answer sheets. Soon, the retotaling was done by the university officials and Keshav got above 85% marks in the subject under consideration. Therefore, he not only got his distinction grade but also was declared as the first rank holder in the entire university. The moral of the story is that we all should persist and pay attention to detail. It was only because Keshav paid attention to the detail that he had attached 11 additional sheets, that he got a much higher renewed total score. Also, by not

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pestering his professors for a re-evaluation, Keshav had also inadvertently shown respect to his professors, and had stayed within the unwritten rules of the university. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 41 Riding Two Wheelers Wildly There lived a young man called Ravi in a town in Andhra Pradesh. He owned a small two wheeler mechanic shop. He was an expert at purchasing second hand mopeds and motorcycles, servicing and improving their condition, and then selling the vehicles at higher prices for a small profit. Ravi was a kind hearted man. Being kind hearted was both good and bad for Ravi. Many a time, he repaired mopeds and motorcycles for his customers on credit basis. Allowing credit terms to his customers meant that his personal finance situation was always in a bad condition. Ravi was a married man and had to maintain his family consisting of his elderly mother, wife and two children. His personal finance situation almost always created mental tension and pressure to him. One fine day, in order to collect his outstanding debts and funds, Ravi took a motorcycle and began driving around his town with two of his friends. Legally speaking, Ravi would have been allowed to take only one person on the motorcycle along with him as pillion rider. But, he managed to carry two of his friends as pillion riders, thereby riding triples on the motorcycle. None of the three men on the motorcycle were wearing helmets. After finishing their collections of money in their own town, Ravi proposed that they should drive to a nearby town where some more dues were outstanding. Again traveling triples they went to the nearby town to collect money. On their return journey, the motorcycle ran into quicksand on the road, almost hit a bullock cart and slipped completely out of control. Nothing happened to the two friends of Ravi, but Ravis head hit a huge stone on the side of the road. Ravi slipped into a state of shock, and was admitted into a hospital, where he completely lost his memory. Ravis relatives had to sell his motorcycle repair shop and his own house in order to fund his medical treatment. Ravi did not even have medical insurance to cover his head injury. Ravi now lives life like a vegetable with no memory. He has now become a liability to his family, which he could have been protecting. This story throws up many morals to us. They include: (a) Those of us who drive two wheelers and sit as pillion riders should always wear helmets, (b) Two wheeler drivers should have only one pillion rider, and never have two pillion riders, (c) It is better for tiny and small business owners never to give credit terms, even to regular customers, (d) Collection of outstanding loans should be done only by the individual who has given the loan, in a polite manner. There is no sense in taking along friends to pose as rowdies in order to extort outstanding loans. (e) It is always better for working men to have life, health and accident insurance.

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Moral Stories for Children & Youth 42 Death Redefined One day a sanyasi (saint) was running on a village road. He was running at top speed. He seemed to be scared of something chasing him. He was panting heavily and gasping as he ran. Three village youth named Vijay, Raja and Arun came across the saint. They stopped the saint and asked him why he was running in such haste, and why he was looking so pale, scared and frightened out of his wits. To this the sanyasi replied that he had just seen Death and so he was running away at top speed. The three youth smiled at the sanyasi. They asked him whether he had seen a dead body somewhere. To this the sanyasi replied that he had not seen a dead body but he had seen Death itself. The youth were brave young fellows. So, they told the sanyasi that they would accompany him to see Death. They asked the sanyasi to show them Death and they would ensure that he had nothing to fear from it. So, the sanyasi took them outside the village, near the hills and into a certain cave. After entering deep inside the cave, the sanyasi showed them a huge pile of gold coins and termed it as Death. Vijay, Raja and Arun had a hearty laugh and asked the sanyasi to leave. They assured the sanyasi that what he termed as Death would do him no harm at all. The sanyasi left the place innocuously. Vijay, Raja and Arun planned to keep the gold to themselves and divide it into three equal shares. They began counting the coins. Soon, it was lunch time and all three of them were hungry. So, they stopped counting. After much argument, they agreed that Vijay would go alone into the village and bring lunch for all three of them. It was also agreed that the two who remained in the cave with the gold, Raja and Arun, would not touch the gold till Vijay came back with the lunch. Before Vijay left to bring lunch, he stated that Arun and Raja were to keep a watch over each other, so that there would be no cheating. After reaching the village, Vijay was sure that Raja and Arun would cheat him and secretly set aside some gold for themselves. So Vijay came up with a plan. He added poison to the lunch he was carrying for Raja and Arun so that they would die on eating the lunch. If that happened, all the gold would belong only to him. On the other hand, Raja and Arun devised a plot in the cave. They found two big and thick sticks. They decided to stand hidden inside either side of the entrance of the cave. As soon as Vijay entered, they would hit him on the head and kill him. Then, they would have to make only two equal shares of the gold coins, and not three shares. Everything went exactly as planned. Vijay returned with the lunch, was beaten on the head and died instantaneously. Then Raja and Arun ate the lunch which Vijay brought without suspecting that it had been poisoned, and they too died instantaneously. Ultimately, there were three dead bodies because of the pile of gold coins. The sanyasi was right that the gold coins were nothing but Death and was the smartest of all of them to have run away from it at top speed.

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Moral Stories for Children & Youth 43 Tiru Gnana Sambandar of Sirkali The story of Gnana Sambandar of Sirkali in Tamilnadu is unique. His father used to go to the Shiva temple daily and offer milk as naivedya (divine food) to the Lord. After offering it to the Lord the father would bring the milk back home and give it to the little boy, Gnana Sambandar, to drink. One day, Gnana Sambandars father could not go to the temple as he was ill. So he asked Gnana Sambandar to go and offer the naivedya instead. The boy went to the temple and offered milk to the Lord, and asked him to please drink it, but there was no response to the request from the statue of Lord Shiva. After further pleading and no response from the Lord, the boy began to cry. With utter innocence, Sambandar asked the Lord why he accepted milk from his father daily but would not drink the milk which he brought. Finally, seeing the child crying profusely, Lord Shiva relented, appeared in person, and actually drank up the milk. After this Gnana Sambandar went back home to his father with the empty vessel. The father saw the vessel and assumed the little boy had drunk the milk on the way back from the temple. However, as was his daily wont, the boy asked the father for his quota of milk. The annoyed father told Gnana Sambandar that there was no milk for him since he had already drunk it on the way back. Gnana Sambandar told his father that it was not he who drank the milk, but Lord Shiva who had drunk the milk from the naivedya vessel. The father did not believe the story of the little boy. The boy was hungry, and so he went back to the temple. There, he again began pleading to the Lord to satiate his hunger. Finally, Parvati Devi herself came and rescued the hungry little boy by giving him milk to drink. The moral of the story is that if we think of God before we eat and offer to him whatever we are partaking, the Lord will ensure that we are well fed and taken care of. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 44 Sharanagati Vibheeshana was Ravanas younger brother. Ravana was the king of Lanka who was vanquished in war by Lord Rama. After Ravana, Vibheeshana was designated as King of Lanka by Lord Rama. Vibheeshana, however, wanted always to be with the Lord (Sameepya). So he went along with the Lord and Sita Devi to Ayodhya and was present for Rama Pattabishekam (the coronation of Lord Rama as King). After this, he continued to remain with the Lord. The Lord reminded him that Vibheeshana had a duty as ruler of Lanka, and that he had to go back. In order to pacify Vibheeshana who was full of grief to leave the presence of the Lord, the Lord said that He would be present always, without either of his two consorts, in Srirangam temple as Ranganatha and would look southwards in order to protect Vibheeshana and his people. It should be noted that in Srirangam, Lord Ranganatha is alone lying on the Adishesha snake, unaccompanied by His consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi. Such is the Lords love for His true devotees that He considers being present for them as more important than

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being with His own consorts. It is also said that Lord Ranganatha looks southwards in order to give His benediction to Srivilliputtur where Sri Andal, the great poet-saintdevotee, resides. The moral of this story is that true devotees who surrender to the Lord are never forsaken by Him. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 45 Koorath Alwar The devotion of Koorath Alwar to his master Saint Ramanuja is worth remembering. Ramanuja was a staunch follower of Lord Vishnu and preached widely about the Lord and His great deeds. However, the kingdom in which Ramanuja preached Vaishnavism was taken over by a young king who was succeeding his father. The elder king had been tolerant to both Vaishnava and Shaiva cultures, but the young king was arrogant and intolerant towards the Vaishnavism preached by Ramanuja. So he sent for Ramanuja. Koorath Alwar who was at the bathing ghat with Ramanuja at the time the kings sentries arrived, sensed the upcoming danger, and asked Ramanuja to leave silently and immediately to Melkote near Mysore. Instead of Ramanuja, Koorath Alwar went to the young king claiming that he was Ramanuja. The young king asked the alwar what was the difference between Shiva and Vishnu. The alwar replied that Shiva was three times bigger than Vishnu. The king suspected why a Vaishnava saint would praise Lord Shiva thus and asked him to explain. Koorath Alwar then said that he was talking about measures known as Vishnu and Shiva in which Vishnu was one measure and Shiva was three measures. Understanding the sarcasm, the angry king ordered the alwar to get out of his sight. Koorath Alwar was equally angry and replied that his eyes would be unfit to see his Lord again after they had set sight on an unholy king like him. Saying so, the alwar immediately plucked out his eyes with his bare fingers and left the palace after humbling the proud and arrogant young king. Many years later, Ramanuja returned from Melkote, and with the benedictions of the Lord, was able to reinstate the eyes of Koorath Alwar. This story again highlights the great and undaunted spirit of sacrifice of the devotees of the Lord. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 46 Baktha Kannappa This story has its origins in Sri Kalahasti town which has the Great Vayu Linga Shiva temple. It is said that Kannappa was a hunter in the forests of Sri Kalahasti. In his previous birth, he was Arjuna but could not get moksha (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths) because circumstances forced him to engage in war with his cousins, the Kauravas. In this birth, Kannappa was born to attain moksha by serving Lord Shiva. One day, Kannappa was hunting animals in the forest. It so happened that in the middle of the

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forest he spotted a Shiva linga. He looked at the Lord and wondered how hungry the Lord may be, since He was left unattended in the forest. He immediately killed a passing animal and offered the meat to Lord Shiva. It so happened that there was a priest who cleaned the Shiva linga every day in the morning. When the priest came the next morning he was shocked to find meat near the Lord. He cleaned the place and performed his prayers. However, every day he found fresh meat being placed there, which led him to protest to Lord Shiva about such a low form of devotion. In reply, Lord Shiva said that he valued the devotion of both the priest and that of Kannappa equally. If the priest wanted the Lord to test Kannappas devotion, then the Lord was willing to do so. The priest agreed and the Lord asked him to hide behind a nearby tree lest Kannappa see him when he came to place the daily quota of meat. The priest hid behind a tree and soon Kannappa appeared. He cleaned the Shiva linga and offered fresh meat. Immediately, the Lord who was testing Kannappa began to bleed from the left eye of the linga. On seeing this, Kannappa was very disturbed, but found an instant solution. With his arrow he plucked out his left eye and pressed it onto the bleeding eye of the Shiva linga. The priest behind the tree was aghast at the bold devotional act of Kannappa. Lord Shiva decided to put Kannappa to a further test. Now, the Shiva lingas right eye began to bleed. Seeing this, Kannappa reacted immediately. He took out his arrow to pluck out his right eye, but wondered where he would place the eye, since he would be totally blind after removing his right eye. So, he lifted his leg and with his toe he located the right eye of the Shiva Linga which was bleeding. He then went on to pluck out his right eye too for the Lord. Seeing this devotion and spirit of sacrifice, Lord Shiva appeared instantly and gave moksha to both Kannappa and the priest. The moral of this story is that we may all differ in our ways of devotion and sacrifice to the Lord, but what matters is how deep our Bakthi (devotion) is and to what extent we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Lord. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 47 Sri Kalahasti Sri Kalahasti as mentioned earlier is the temple town which is also called Dakshina Kailasa and houses the famous Vayu Linga of Lord Shiva. The town derives its name from the sacrifices of Sri, Kala and Hasti. Sri means spider, Kala means Cobra Snake or Serpant, and Hasti means Elephant. In the story, the spider was the first to find a neglected Shiva Linga standing in the hot sun. So it began to weave a spider web over the Shiva Linga to shield it from the sun. Then came the snake which tried to protect the Linga by raising its hood over it. And finally came the elephant, which with its devotion to Lord Shiva wanted to perform abhisheka (ablution of the Lord with water). The elephant went to the nearby Swarnamukhi river and filled its trunk with water and performed the washing of the Shiva Linga with a forceful jet of water. The forceful jet

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of water killed the spider, but the soul of the spider was liberated by Lord Shiva since it had died while trying to protect the Lord from intense heat. The jet of water also disturbed the snake. The angry snake whose penance was foiled entered the trunk of the elephant. The Elephant then thrashed its trunk on a nearby rock. Due to this struggle both the snake and the elephant died. The snake and the elephant were given moksha by Lord Shiva because they had died while attempting to honor the Lord in their own chosen manner. The moral of this story is that each of us can decide how we want to serve the Lord and if we are steadfast at it, He will liberate us from the cycles of birth and death, and we will become part of His eternal soul. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 48 Udhavas Quest Udhava was a great disciple of Lord Krishna. He asked many questions and got many replies. One day he asked the Lord why He did not care about the people who were living miserable lives in the world. Why did He not take them to heaven and give them a blissful life? To this the Lord replied that He was always ready to receive His true devotees in heaven but not many really wanted to join Him. This answer from Lord Krishna raised doubts in Udhavas mind. So, he went out into the world to check the veracity of the Lords word. The first living creature he came across was a pig which was feeding on the dirt in a ditch. Udhava asked the pig whether he would like to go to heaven. To this, the pig for whom its brood was very important asked if those living in heaven had children. Udhava replied in the negative but said that those living in heaven derived greater pleasure than those who had children, because they enjoyed the name chanting, music and presence of the Lord. The pig then asked whether there was enough dirt in heaven for it to feed on. This shocked Udhava, and he replied in the negative. Udhava then returned hastily to Lord Krishna. Being a humble devotee and student of the Lord, he understood the meaning of the Lords words in the Bhagavad Gita Very few are those who truly seek me, and still fewer are those who reach me. The moral of the story is that the Lord does not seek out those who do not seek Him, but He is ever willing to assimilate His true devotee into His eternal super soul. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 49 King Janaka King Janaka was known far and wide as a Raja Yogi. This means that at the same time, he was both a king and a saint. While he had all the material possessions one could ever ask for, he felt he was not their owner, nor did he base his existence on his possessions. He was always lost in divine contemplation while not officiating matters of the state. His judgments were just and fair due to his prayerful and divine nature. His subjects were happy with their ruler. One day a saint dressed in saffron robes arrived in his kingdom. He had heard that the

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King Janaka was a Raja Yogi. He stood outside the glittering palace and wondered how someone who owned and lived in such a palace could be called a Yogi or Saint. He met and questioned Raja Janaka who did not reply at that time. The King honored his guest and gave him a comfortable room to stay within the palace. A few days later when both the saint and King Janaka were fast asleep a raging fire began in the palace. All the soldiers fled the spot, and the saint too ran out of the palace, not only to protect his life but also to secure his two pieces of saffron robe which he had washed and left to dry just outside the palace. Soon the fire was put out and obviously everyone now went in search of King Janaka who was not to be found. Finally the King was located meditative and prayerful in his chambers, which were half burnt in the fire. The saint questioned why the King did not run out of the palace when the fire raged. In reply to this, the wise King said What is truly mine cannot be taken away by anyone except the Lord. It was then clear to the saint that the King was referring to his atma (soul). This humbled the saint who realized why Raja Janaka was called a Raja Yogi, while he was just an ordinary human being who had run away to secure his life and cloth. The moral of this story is that we human beings should not concern ourselves about the ever-changing and perishable matter (kshara) around us but always be deeply involved in trying to reach purushottama (the super soul) above us. As the Srimad Bhagavad Gita has taught us our soul is what is imperishable (akshara), and weapons cannot cut it, nor can fire burn it, water cannot wet it, nor can wind dry it (2-23). Moral Stories for Children & Youth 50 Parvati Devis Redoubled Devotion In her first janma (birth) Parvati Devi had prayed to Lord Shiva and become his consort. She was Dakshas daughter and when Daksha was performing a sacrifice, the Lord and Parvati Devi were invited. The Lord knew that Daksha would display great pomp and splendor in order to demean and humiliate Shivas frugal lifestyle. Daksha deeply hated Lord Shiva because He lived in cemeteries, was always meditative and begged for food. He did not look into the purity of Shivas soul. Knowing well the attitude of the father-in-law, Lord Shiva refused the invitation, so that Daksha may be saved from Shivas wrath lest he behaved in an untoward fashion. Lord Shiva also thought it improper to bow to the father-in-law as is customary during ceremonies. Parvati Devi, however, not being above human attachments went alone to the ceremony of her father. Quite predictably, Daksha spoke ill about Shiva which Parvati could not tolerate. Immediately because of her devotion to the Lord she gave up her mortal coils by consigning herself to the sacrificial fire. When the all-knowing Lord learnt of this He immediately sent forth Veerabhadra who destroyed Daksha, his sacrifice and entire empire. Such was the love of the Lord for his pure devotee Parvati, despite her committing the mistake of going to her fathers ceremony without her husband.

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Parvati Devi was reborn to Himavan, the King of the Himalaya Mountains. From a very young age she began worshiping Shiva saying that she would marry only the Lord. When she was of marriageable age, her father showed her many suitors who were all kings and heroes in their own right. Parvati Devi refused them all, and much to the dismay of King Himavan, decided to marry only Lord Shiva. King Himavan, like Daksha, felt that Shiva was only a mendicant and would be unable to provide for a princess like Parvati. But he did not upset his daughters prayers. Gradually Parvatis prayers turned into severe penance and austerities for Lord Shiva in the Himalaya Mountains. The whole area around Parvati Devi became calm. All the fierce animals in the nearby forests which were fighting and killing each other became peace-loving and docile. Very chill winter came and snow fell, but Parvati Devis penance went undeterred. Warm seasons came and went but her tapas (severe penance) did not end. In the meanwhile, Lord Shiva had vowed that He would not remarry after his feud with Daksha, and had closed his eyes in deep penance. In the world of men, all the Asuras (Evil and negative forces) enjoyed themselves and lived lawlessly. It was said by the Gods that only Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi could stop the Asuras from plundering the world. Lord Vishnu approached Lord Shiva and asked him to remarry. Lord Shiva consented but first He had to test Parvati Devis devotion to Him. Thus, one day after several months of penance, an old sadhu (sage) in saffron robes came along. Parvati Devi honored him and gave him food to eat. On being questioned by the sage, she told him that her penance was for Lord Shiva to marry her. The sage then provoked Parvati Devi by ridiculing Shiva. He said, What life can you have with a meditative saint like him. I can take you to a rich and prosperous king who can give you everything and keep you happy for ever. Unhesitatingly, Parvati Devi warned the sage by saying, I treated you well because you were an elder and looked like a reputed sage! But alas, I have been deceived. At once, her anger was aroused hearing the sage speak ill of Shiva and she was ready to curse him, when Lo and Behold! The sage transformed himself into who he really was - none but Lord Shiva! He told Parvati Devi that she had passed her final test which he had just conducted and gladly took her as his bride to Mount Kailasa. The moral of this story is that with deep love and true devotion, we can melt the heart of the Lord and seek moksha from him. Moral Stories for Children & Youth 51 Escaping the Vicious Cycle Man is engulfed in the four basic needs / problems which are Nidra (Sleep), Ahara (Food), Mythuna (Sexual desire) and Bhaya (Fear). This is a vicious cycle which one can cross only through devotion to the Lord. There once was a poor man who was walking a long distance in search of livelihood. He was very weary and tired in the hot sun. He asked God to help him and soon found a shady tree to sleep under. His first action was to stretch his legs on the green and soft grass under the tree. He drifted off into a blissful sleep (nidra).

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Later he woke up and found out that he was hungry. Little did he realize that he was sitting under a wish granting tree, Kalpataru, which God had given him. All the wishes in his mind would be granted. He thought of ahara (food) and Lo! It was granted in a jiffy. All the tasty food that he wanted was laid out in front of him and he ate heartily like a really hungry man does. Soon he was well rested and well fed and his mind deviated onto thoughts about women. He wondered how nice it would be if a young girl were present to press his still-aching feet and satisfy him. Instantly the Kalpataru tree granted his wish, and sent forth a beautiful young woman for his pleasure (mythuna). By now he had completely stopped thinking of God. During his moments of pain, the weary traveler had thought constantly of God, but during his moments of pleasure he had no thankfulness to the Almighty. He was deeply immersed in pleasure. Soon, as the cycle goes when we stop thinking of God and thanking Him, the man who had Nidra, Ahara and Mythuna went into Fear (or Bhaya). Soon he realized the tree under which he was sitting was in the middle of the forest and it was becoming dark. He wondered what would happen if a hungry tiger attacked him. Instantly the Kalpataru granted him even this wish and a hungry tiger came, tore him apart and devoured him. The important thing is for man not to get into this vicious cycle of Nidra, Ahara, Mythuna and Bhaya. The only way out is to always remember the Lord at all times and be thankful to Him for all the small pleasures that we have around us. Most importantly as Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita, we must follow practices of yukta ahara vihara meaning that food and interaction with society should be in moderation. Too much food and sleep give rise to physical desires and therefore fear. Limited consumption of food and moderate sleep followed by spiritual practices is the only way out for liberation. Krishna also says in the Bhagavad Gita (6-16) that ones mind can be completely fixed in Him only if one does not overeat, nor fasts completely, nor sleeps too much, nor is awake ceaselessly. One must be regulated in diet, regulated in work, sleep and wakefulness (6-17). Moral Stories for Children & Youth 52 King of Kasi Kasi or Varanasi is a great punya sthala (sacred place of pilgrimage) in India where one visits to wash off his sins in the great river Ganga. Due to certain sins committed in his previous janmas (births) the King of Kasi was performing prayers to Lord Narayana. Soon, sage Narada appeared and guided the King that only Sri Rama can shatter his previous bad karmas and give him a new and virtuous life. He told the King to go to Sri Ramas palace and pay respects and bow down to all the great sages there. However, Narada advised that the King of Kasi should simply ignore Sage Viswamitra. The King who was eager to gain liberation from his past deeds went to the court of Sri

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Rama and did exactly as Narada instructed. He ignored Sage Viswamitra and paid obeisance to all other rishis and munis assembled in the august gathering. His action instantly angered Viswamitra who complained to Sri Rama. Seeing the sage angered thus the king fled the court of Sri Rama and prayed to Lord Narayana again. Narada appeared and told the King of Kasi to approach Anjani Devi, the mother of Hanuma, for her help. The king went to Anjani Devi, who called Hanuma and asked him to save the king. By this time, Sri Rama had promised Viswamitra that He would attack and kill anyone who had angered the sage. Hanuma realized this and asked the King of Kasi to enter a nearby stream and stand facing east and begin repetition of the Rama nama ceaselessly. Soon Lord Rama with Viswamitra and other sages in tow arrived at the scene and found Hanuma and the King of Kasi at the banks of the river. Lord Rama shot an arrow at the king, which did not kill the king but returned to the quiver. The arrow returned because it was ineffective since the king was chanting the Rama nama incessantly. Hanuma, seized the apt moment and approached his Lord Rama and humbly reminded Him that He had given His word to protect those who took His name, even if they had committed sins in the past. Sage Vasishta stepped in and requested Viswamitra to forgive the king and withdraw his angry appeal to the Lord to kill the king. As the king was chanting the Rama nama, Viswamitra was pacified and obliged by requesting Lord Rama to let him go. Thus, the King of Kasi was absolved of all his previous sins and could begin a virtuous and godly life after that. The moral of the story is that continuous and regular chanting of the Rama nama can free us of our previous sins and give us jivan mukti (a state in which we attain liberation while still leading a normal life). Moral Stories for Children & Youth 53 Lord Ramas Word Lord Rama grew up into a handsome young man and at a tender age joined Sage Viswamitra to kill the demons Khara and Dushana who were disturbing the sages penance. Soon afterwards, the sage took Rama to King Janakas palace where Sri Rama lifted and strung Lord Shivas bow and won the hand of the unmatched beauty, Sita Devi. In due course of time, Rama was to be crowned king after his father Dasaratha. Everyone in the kingdom of Ayodhya rejoiced hearing this and looked forward to the day when they would have the noble, virtuous and valiant Sri Rama as their king. One fine day Dasaratha called Sri Rama and informed Him that He would be crowned king the very next day since Dasaratha was tired in mind and body to run the kingdom any longer. Rama accepted and left. That very evening, Mandhara, a maid servant of Dasarathas second queen Kaikeyi, poisoned the mind of Kaikeyi into asking for two boons that Dasaratha had bestowed on her earlier, which she had not sought at that time. Tempted by the fact that her son Bharata could become king instead of Sri Rama, Kaikeyi, filled with desire, demanded that Sri Rama leave the kingdom the very next day for fourteen years and

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become a recluse in the forests, and her son Bharata, who was away at that time at his uncles house, be made king of Ayodhya instead of Sri Rama. Dasaratha was torn and distraught and could not sleep all night. In the morning he called Sri Rama and told Him of the two boons he had granted his second wife earlier, when she had saved his life. Sri Rama took the news with as much equanimity as he had taken the news of the impending coronation the previous evening. That very afternoon, Sri Rama along with Lakshmana and Sita Devi, left Ayodhya dressed in clothes befitting saints and not kings. The whole of Ayodhya wept seeing Sri Rama, whom they had dreamt as their next king, leaving the land in saffron robes. Dasaratha could not bear separation from Sri Rama and died soon after, with a heavy heart crying out the name of Rama. Bharata, who had been away, was recalled to Ayodhya. Seeing his father dead and Sri Rama and Lakshmana away he questioned his mother Kaikeyi as to what happened. She related her desires and the details of the two boons to her son. Bharata then reprimanded his mother and bitterly questioned the fairness of running the kingdom in the absence of its legitimate heir, the godly Sri Rama. Bharata left in search of Sri Rama. He found Sri Rama living a hermits life in the forest. Bharata begged Rama to come back and be king of Ayodhya. Sri Rama replied that His only criterion in life was to honor the word of His dead father which was for Him to leave Ayodhya for fourteen years. Such was the respect that Sri Rama gave to His fathers word that even though Bharata wanted Rama to return to the life of luxury, Sri Rama did not accept kingship, simply to keep up His fathers word. The moral of the story is that we may need to undergo great pain and suffering to keep up the name or word of our father and parents, but we should remember that, in the end, the results are sweet, as in the case of Sri Rama! Moral Stories for Children & Youth 54 The Gandiva Bow of Arjuna One day Arjuna paid a visit to Lord Krishna at Mathura. By this time, Agni Deva (the god of fire) had bestowed the Gandiva bow to Arjuna who was already a great archer. Arjunas confidence knew no bounds that he was the greatest warrior alive, especially since he had the Gandiva with him. So he told Lord Krishna that he was all powerful. Lord Krishna simply nodded, smiled and remained silent. Just then a Brahmin appeared at the gate of Lord Krishnas palace where they were standing. The Brahmin was in tears and Arjuna who felt capable of protecting the Brahmin asked him to stop crying and relate his problem. The Brahmin said that he had nine sons, but all of them had been snatched away by unknown forces as soon as he stepped out of his hut with the new born baby in his hands. Arjuna said that he would protect the Brahmins next child from being snatched away thus. He told the Brahmin to tell him the day when he expected his next child to be born so that Arjuna could stand guard at the Brahmins hut with the powerful Gandiva in his hands.

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After a few months, the Brahmin informed Arjuna that he was expecting his next child to be born in a few days. True to his word, Arjuna responded and stood guard at the door of the Brahmins house. The next day the Brahmins wife delivered a boy but within a few minutes the Brahmin ran out of the house, wailing loudly. He told Arjuna that the other nine children were snatched away from outside the house when he came out holding the child, but this child had disappeared from within the house itself. He blamed Arjunas presence outside for this mishap. Arjuna promised the Brahmin that he would look for his tenth son in all three worlds the heaven, the earth and the nether worlds and only then would he return, or else he would consign himself to fire. Arjuna searched high and low for the child, looking for it elaborately in the nether world and on earth. The child was no where to be found. Finally, Arjuna reached heaven and found ten glowing, lustrous and beautiful baby boys playing joyously near Lord Vishnu. Instantly, Arjuna realized this was the maya or divine play of the Lord who was proving to Arjuna that merely possessing the powerful Gandiva Bow did not guarantee invincibility or make him all powerful. The moral of the story is that we may wield great power and pelf but if we lend ourselves to overconfidence we will not understand the ways of the Lord nor realize how small we are in the grander scheme of the Lord. ***

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