Once, a king called a gathering of learned astrologers and astrology lovers and asked, "According to my horoscope, I was destined to become king. I did. However, at the same time, many people must have been born who could not become kings. Why? What is the reason for this?"
The king's question left everyone speechless. What answer should they give to why, despite being born at the same time, everyone's fate is different.
All were lost in thought, when suddenly an old man stood up and said, "Hail the King! Who can answer your question? If you go to a dense forest a little distance from here, you will find a monk there. You can get the answer from him."
The king's curiosity grew and he went into the dense forest and saw a monk sitting near a pile of fire, busy eating embers. As soon as the frightened king asked the monk, the monk angrily said, "I don't have time to answer your question. I am suffering from hunger. There is another monk in the hills a little further from here. He can answer your question." The king's curiosity grew. Once again, after crossing the dark and mountainous path, the king reached the second monk with great difficulty. But what a sight it was. The monk was tearing his own flesh apart with tongs and eating it.
Upon seeing the king, the monk scolded him, saying, "I am restless with hunger. I don't have much time. Go ahead. A child is about to be born in a tribal village across the hills. He will live only for a short while. Reach there before sunrise. That child can answer your question."
The king became very restless. His question had become a strange puzzle. His curiosity was intense. Whatever it was, I had already reached there. I would go there too to see what happened.
The king again crossed the difficult path and somehow reached the village by morning. He inquired about the situation, reached the couple's home, explained everything, and asked them to bring the child back immediately. As soon as the child was born, the couple presented the child, along with the umbilical cord, before the king.
Seeing the king, the boy laughed and said, "King! I don't have time either, but listen to my answer:
Seven lifetimes ago, you, I, and the two Mahatmas were four brothers and princes. Once, while hunting, we got lost in the forest. We wandered hungry and thirsty for three days.
Suddenly, all four of us brothers found a bundle of flour. Somehow, we baked four rotis and were about to sit down to eat, when a monk, suffering from hunger and thirst, arrived.
He said to the brother who was eating embers, "Son, I have been hungry for ten days. Please give me some of your rotis. Have mercy on me so that I too can survive and gain some strength to cross this dense forest."
Hearing this, the brother became furious and said, "If I give it to you, will I eat fire? Let's run away from here."
The monk then approached the meat-eating brother and told him his story, but the brother also became angry and said, "If I give you this Bati obtained with great difficulty, will I tear my own flesh and eat it?"
Hungry, the monk came to me and asked for a Bati... and asked for mercy, but I, too, lost my patience and said, "Go ahead, should I die of hunger?"
The boy said, "O King, with a last hope, that Mahatma came to you, begged for mercy. Upon hearing this, you took pity on his plight and happily gave half of your Bati to that monk with respect."
The monk was delighted to receive the roti and, as he left, said, "Your future will depend on your actions and behavior."
The boy replied, "Thus, O King! We are enjoying our food based on that incident. Many flowers bloom on the earth at the same time, but their fruits differ in form, quality, shape, and taste."
Key Lessons from the Story
1. **Actions Matter Than Birth:** Your circumstances (such as being born a king or a commoner) may be your starting point, but your current actions are the main architects of your future life.
2. **The Impact of Kindness:** One act of kindness, even when resources are limited (such as sharing half a loaf of bread), creates a long-lasting, positive path that lasts a lifetime.
3. **Kindness is Self-Saving:** The suffering of others in the story is due to their selfishness and lack of empathy, which shows that being cruel to others ultimately takes a toll on oneself.
Life Management Tips
1. **Focus on Controllable Things:** Stop focusing on why others have different "luck" or advantages. You can't change your starting point, but you can control your daily reactions.
2. **Have tremendous empathy:** When you see someone in need, try to see beyond your immediate "hunger" or discomfort and see their humanity. This shifts your perspective from scarcity to abundance.
3. **Invest in goodwill:** Consider every small interaction a deposit for your future. Kindness is an investment that yields compound interest in the long run.
Business Management Tips
1. **Create a culture of kindness:** Organizations that prioritize helping others (clients, employees, or community) create a "karmic" goodwill that ensures long-term sustainability in a difficult environment.
2. **Long-term thinking:** The sages in the story focused on their immediate hunger, which led to long-term suffering. In business, prioritize long-term value over short-term profit.
3. **Responsibility for Results**:** Don't blame market forces or bad luck for poor performance. Take responsibility for your past decisions—they are the direct cause of your current business.
Inspiring Quotes
1. **You are the Author**:** No matter what your horoscope or current circumstances say, you are writing the script for your next chapter with your decisions today.
2. **Small Acts, Big Ripples**:** You never know what small act of kindness will yield life-changing fruit in the future. Keep sowing good seeds.
3. **Wise Perspective**:** Maintaining compassion and respect for others, even in the midst of "hunger" or hardship, is the hallmark of a true leader.
Self-Help Tips
1. **Audit Your Breads**:** Ask yourself, "What resources do I have right now?" Then find an opportunity to share some of those resources with someone in need.
2. Reframing discomfort: When you feel "hungry" (frustrated, stressed, or angry), use that moment as a checkpoint and ask: "Am I acting out of fear, or out of integrity?"
3. Avoid victimhood: Avoid the trap of thinking "Why me?" and instead think, "How did my past actions cause this, and how can I sow better seeds for tomorrow?"
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