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The animals were tired of Leo’s constant hunting and decided to do something about it. They held a special meeting and bravely approached Leo.

“Sir Leo,” said the wise old elephant, “we don’t want you to hunt us anymore. We’ll take turns volunteering to be your meal, so the rest of us can live in peace.”

Leo, feeling proud and powerful, agreed to the animals’ proposal. “Very well,” he roared, “if you come voluntarily, I will sleep and not disturb the jungle.”

The animals were relieved, and a schedule was created to determine whose turn it was to be Leo’s meal. One day, it was the turn of a clever rabbit named Robbie.

Robbie had a plan. He decided to be a little late for his appointment with Leo. When he finally arrived, Leo was furious. “Why have you come late? I am very hungry, and you did not come on time,” roared Leo.

The clever rabbit, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, replied, “Sir, there was a danger on the way.”

Leo was intrigued. “What danger?” he asked.

“There is another lion,” Robbie said, laying on a bench and sprinkling pepper and salt on himself, “and he wanted to eat me. So, I protested, ‘No, sir, you cannot kill me! I am to be eaten by another lion.'”

Leo, growing angrier, demanded to know where this other lion was.

“Come, I will show you,” said Robbie, leading Leo towards an old well in the jungle.

“The other lion is living within this well,” explained Robbie.

Leo peered into the well and, to his surprise, saw another lion roaring back at him. The other lion looked just like him! What Leo didn’t realize was that it was his own reflection.

Enraged, Leo jumped into the well to confront the other lion. The animals watched in astonishment as Leo, in his foolishness, drowned in the water.

From that day forward, the jungle was peaceful, and the animals lived happily without the constant threat of Leo’s hunting. And they all learned a valuable lesson: one who has intelligence has true power. And so, the clever rabbit, Robbie, became a hero in the jungle, reminding everyone that brains can triumph over brawn.

In his grand daydream, Pippin also imagined getting married and having a bunch of kids. “I’ll be the head of the house and boss everyone around,” he chuckled. He even pictured himself playfully kicking disobedient kids if they misbehaved.

But, oh my goodness! As he continued his imaginative kicks, he accidentally kicked the air so hard that he sent all the pots flying, and crash! They broke into a hundred pieces. Pippin’s dreams were instantly shattered.

Surprised and dismayed, Pippin looked at the broken pots and realized his big dreams had just turned into a big mess. “Well, that didn’t go as planned,” he mumbled to himself, scratching his head.

The village animals, who had been watching the whole scene, couldn’t help but giggle. A wise old owl hooted, “Maybe next time, don’t mix dreams of pots with dreams of kicking mischievous kids!”

Pippin laughed along with the animals, realizing the truth in the owl’s words. The moral of the story dawned on him: Dreams are wonderful, but it’s important to keep our feet on the ground and pay attention to what’s happening around us. So, dream big, but also be mindful of the pots in your life and take careful steps to turn those dreams into reality.

Mousy approached the saint and said, “Sir, I’m in trouble! The cat keeps chasing me, and I don’t know what to do. Can you please help me?”

The kind saint asked, “What kind of help do you need, little friend?”

Mousy replied, “I wish I could become a cat myself so that the big cat won’t bother me anymore.”

The saint thought for a moment and then said, “Alright, your wish is granted. You shall become a cat.”

Mousy was happy for a while, but soon he was back, looking sad. The saint asked, “What’s wrong now?”

Mousy sighed, “Now a dog is chasing me! Being a cat isn’t as easy as I thought.”

The saint chuckled and asked, “So, what would you like to be now?”

Mousy thought for a moment and said, “Maybe if I were a tiger, then no one would dare to chase me!”

The saint smiled and turned Mousy into a tiger. However, to everyone’s surprise, the tiger started staring at the saint with hungry eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want to eat me?” asked the saint.

The tiger nodded eagerly.

The saint, realizing the mistake, said, “Oh dear! You’ve forgotten the lesson. You should appreciate who you are and not try to be something else. Now, go back to being a mouse, and remember to be content with who you are.”

And just like that, Mousy turned back into a mouse but with a valuable lesson in his heart. From that day on, Mousy embraced being a mouse and learned that it’s okay to be oneself. The saint’s magic became a reminder that everyone has a special role to play, and trying to be something you’re not might lead to unexpected troubles.

The moral of the story is: Be happy with who you are because everyone is special in their own way.

Alexander the Great became one of the biggest rulers of ancient history. He conquered most of the world of that time just at the age of 32. Although being the king of ancient Macedonia for less than 13 years, he changed the course of history. He was one of the greatest military generals who stretched his empire all the way from India, through Egypt up to the northern border of Greece. He was taught by one of the greatest philosophers of all time, Aristotle. This might have helped him have fundamental traits of an ambitious commander and a successful leader. He was not an ordinary man as he never lost a single battle in his entire life. His ability to plan and strategize on large scale helped him win many battles even when his army was outnumbered. He motivated his army to be part of the greatest conquest in history. He was charming, inspiring, and courageous.

After conquering hundreds of kingdoms, Alexander was heading back home. On his way back, he fell seriously ill. While lying on his deathbed, he realized that nothing was worth it even after living a successful life conquering most of the known world.The final days of Alexander on his deathbed offer a moral lesson for all of us. He wanted to go home and meet his mother before his soul departed from this world. But, he knew he would not last that long. Therefore, he called upon his loyal generals and told, “I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail.”

The king asked his generals to fulfill his following three wishes: (1) My physicians must carry my body alone. (2) I want the path leading to my grave to be strewn with gold, silver, and precious stones that are in my treasury while my body is being carried to be buried. (3) My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin.

The generals who gathered there wondered at the king’s wishes. But no one dared to question him. But one of his favorite generals kissed on his hand and said, “My majesty! We promise you that all of your wishes will be fulfilled. But, will you tell us why do you have such strange wishes?”

“I want everybody to learn the three lessons that I have learned in my life, ” Alexander replied after taking a deep breath. Alexander explained why he had these 3 strange wishes in the following way:

(1) “I want my physicians to carry my body alone because I want people to know that no doctor can cure people’s illnesses, especially when they face death. No physician or doctor is as powerful to save people from the clutch of death. So, don’t let people take life for granted.”

(2) “I want the path leading to my grave to be strewn with gold, silver, and precious stones while my body is being carried to be buried because I want people to know that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent my whole life chasing power and wealth. Whatever earned in the earth remains here. I want people to realize that it is a complete waste of your life and time to run after wealth and power.”

(3) “I want my both hands to keep dangling out of my coffin because I want people to know that we came empty-handed in this world and we will go empty-handed.”

The king’s final words were, “When you bury my body, don’t build any momentum and keep my hands outside so that the world knows that the person who won the whole world had nothing in his hand while dying.” With these powerful words, the king closed his eyes and let death conquer him.

One day, the king’s thumb got cut and he shared the news painfully with Birbal. Birbal, maintaining his own devotion to God, responded confidently, “Whatever God does, He does it only for good.” The king angrily threatened Birbal to punish him if he did not change his stance. However, Birbal maintained his position and as a result the king became furious. The king got so annoyed that he threw Birbal into the prison.

The next morning the king went into a dense forest for hunting. While he was chasing a deer, he got separated from his retinue. Suddenly a group of tribals attacked the king and then forcibly carried him blind-folded to a temple for offering him as a human sacrifice. The chief of the tribals took a gigantic sword ready to behead the king. All of a sudden, he stopped and noticed the bruised thumb of the king. The chief announced that the king was not fit for the offering and therefore ordered his men to release him.

The king ran for his life and came straight to the prison where Birbal was kept incarcerated. King Akbar begged for forgiveness and released Birbal. The king narrated the whole story to Birbal concluding himself that whatever God does, He does it only for good. However, the king still had one doubt that he placed before Birbal. He said, “I understand that my bruised finger saved my life today. But, how could God be good in having you thrown inside the prison?” Birbal immediately responded, “If I was not put in the prison, I would have accompanied you on the hunting excursion. Seeing you unfit for sacrifice, they would have me instead for the human sacrifice. So, by God’s grace, I was put in the prison and my life got spared.” Akbar exulted at Birbal’s remark and they both repeated the conclusion in unison, “Whatever God does, He does only for good.”

Ramanuja visited Sri Nambi. Sri Nambi was a strict disciplinarian and a demanding master. He refused to part with the mantra. Ramanuja traveled to visit him 18 times and patiently waited upon Sri Nambi. 

Looking at Ramanuja’s dedication, Sri Nambi agreed to initiate Ramanuja with the mantra. He did so with promises of secrecy. He said, “Ramanuja! Keep this mantra a secret. This is a powerful Mantra of Om Namo Narayana. Those who repeat this mantra will attain salvation. Give it only to disciples who are worthy. If you break this promise, you will suffer in hell.”

The young Ramanuja, after learning this secret mantra, ran to a temple and shouted the mantra at the top of his voice. 

His Guru Sri Nambi became furious and called for Ramanuja. Ramanuja explained, “O beloved master, please prescribe a suitable punishment for my wrong action. I will gladly accept the tortures of hell if millions can attain salvation with this mantra.”

Sri Nambi was very pleased with Ramanuja’s kindness and compassion. He embraced him tightly and blessed him.

A student found the argument quite silly and so she decided to confront her professor. She got up and said, “Professor, would you mind if I said something?” He said, “Of course, not.”

The girl said to the class, “Have you ever seen our professor’s brain?” and nobody answered. Then she asked, “Have you ever felt our professor’s brain?” and nobody answered. Finally, she asked, “Have you ever heard our professor’s brain?” and, everyone was still quiet.

She then said, “It is quite obvious that our professor has no brain.”

By definition, God is beyond the range of our senses. God becomes accessible not by our challenging attitude but by God’s kind revelation in reciprocation with our humble mood of service.

A student bravely replied, “Yes, he did!”

“God created everything?” The professor asked.

“Yes Sir”, the student replied.

The professor challenged the student, “If God created everything, then God must have created evil as well. Since the quality of our work determines who we are, we can conclude God is evil”. The student felt overpowered by the professor.

Another student raised her hand and said, “Can I ask you a follow-up question, professor?”

“Of course”, replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”

“What kind of question is this? Of course, it exists. Have you never been cold?” The students snickered at the young girl’s question.

The girl replied, “In fact, Sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”

The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”

The professor responded, “Of course it does.”

The student replied, “Once again, it is wrong, Sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. We can study light, but not darkness. In fact, we can use a prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. Darkness is a term used conventionally to describe what happens when there is no light present.”

Finally, the young girl asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”

Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the multitude of crime, hatred, and violence everywhere in the world.”

To this, the student replied, “Evil does not exist, Sir. Evil is simply the absence of good. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that we have created to describe the absence of good. God did not create evil. When there is an absence of good (because of ignoring the presence of God), we experience evil.”

The professor was dumb-founded.

Alexander was stunned by the thief’s remark. Alexander considered the thief’s appeal, “Yes, I am nothing but a big thief, that’s all.” So, he released the thief, saying “I am no better than you!”

“What is that?”

“The cat chases after me always. I am very unhappy.”

“So, what do you want?”

“If you can make me a cat, I can get relief from this.”

“Alright, you become cat!” So, the mouse instantly transformed into a cat by the blessing of the saint.

After a few days, he again came back to the saint and started crying piteously. The saint asked, “Why are you crying now?”

“The dog is chasing me.”

“Alright, then, what do you want now?”

“Please make me a tiger.”

“Fine, you become a tiger.”

When he became a tiger, he started staring at the saint.

The saint asked, “Why are you staring at me? You want to eat me?”

“Yes.”

So, now, the saint cursed him, “Again, become a mouse!”

That is our predicament. We are currently enjoying all the facilities provided by God. But, we want to get God out of the picture. We got a human birth, which is perfectly suitable for higher attainment. But, we are not sufficiently valuing this opportunity.

Pridefully, we are ignoring God and busy claiming proprietorship over temporary objects of sense gratification. Consequently, our conditions are only declining day by day. We are getting increasingly enmeshed within the complexities of life.