Life lessons!

Bhisma narrated a story to Maharaj Yudhisthira:

There was once a sage living in a forest. He performed such austerities, living on only fruits & roots that he became highly purified at heart. He exhibited great kindness towards all living creatures & all forest animals approached him with an attitude of friendship-even the lions, tigers & elephants. Indeed, these ferocious animals acted just like the sage’s disciples

A dog resided with the gentle sage & he was so devoted that he remained at his feet all the time. By sage’s good association, the dog exhibited gentle qualities & it performed austerities as well. Eventually the dog became very weak & skinny as a result

One day a hungry leopard came to the sage’s asrama, hoping to eat the dog. Becoming exceedingly frightened, the dog begged his master to protect him. The Sage, with his mystic powers, transformed the dog into a leopard. Upon seeing the dog-turned leopard, the hungry leopard quietly left

One day a hungry tiger came to eat him. Once again, the dog-turned leopard approached the sage for protection & out of affection he transformed him into a tiger. The hungry tiger went away. Thereafter, the dog-tuned tiger continued to reside fearlessly but due to his change of body, he gave up eating fruit & roots and began eating other animals

One day the dog-turned tiger saw a gigantic elephant rushing towards him. The frightened tiger took shelter of sage, who transformed him into an elephant. Thereafter the dog turned elephant resided in the forest fearlessly

One day a mighty lion accustomed to eating elephants came there. This time the sage transformed the dog into a more powerful lion. The dog turned lion stayed with the sage but because his nature was carnivorous, he ate other animals in the forest

Finally, the ungrateful beast that lived upon the flesh & blood of others got the idea of eating the sage. The sage could understand this by his yogic power & so he said to the dog turned lion: Don’t you remember how I had affectionately transformed you into various animals for your protection? Because you have become so ungrateful that you are prepared to kill your benefactor, I will punish you by turning you back into a dog

Immediately the lion resumed his real form as a dog & upon seeing the change, he became exceedingly depressed. The sage chastised the dog & at last drove him away from his asrama

Bhisma said: Dear Yudhisthira, from this story we learn that a king should very carefully examine the qualities of a servant before giving him the authority to perform state functions. If a king fails to scrutinize someone, that person may turn out to be his greatest enemy. In other words, one who is no better than a dog should never be given a position for which he is not worthy. Otherwise, he will become intoxicated with pride & thus prove to be a liability rather than an asset

Thoughts? #gameoflife