గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః
గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః
గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ
తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః
శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం
శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం
ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ
విఘ్నోప శాంతయే
శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం
కరుణాలయం
నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక
శంకరం
ఓం నమః శివాయ
One day towards the late evening a fully crowded bus was about to start from the bus station to its destination. The bus was pretty overcrowded and quite a number of people were standing in the bus as well. The conductor gave a green signal and the bus started moving.
After
crossing the town limits, the bus moved into a forest area with lots of trees on
both sides of the road. These trees were pretty wide and tall trees. Suddenly
there was lightning in the sky and then started the thunders. Within few
minutes it started raining. It rained so heavily that driving the vehicle
became very tough for the driver. It became pretty dark suddenly and so the
driver was dependant on the front lights and wipers completely. He reduced the
speed of the vehicle and started driving slowly. People inside the bus started
getting scared with the sudden change in the weather.
The
conductor and the driver assured everyone that they are in safe hands as they are used to this kind of inclement weather pretty frequently. While that gave some comfort to the
passengers but they were still worried as the raining increased and there were
more thunders in the sky.
As
the bus moved a little further, suddenly a lightning struck a tree, 50 meters
away, and the tree fell on the road. This shocked all the passengers. While
they were very happy that it did not strike the bus, they were more scared now.
The driver manoeuvred skillfully and went past the tree and resumed the journey.
After
another 15 mins, another lightning struck another big tree, this time 40 meters
away, and the tree fell on the road. The passengers were dumb stuck. They did
not know what to do. The bus driver once again skillfully drove past the tree
on the road and resumed the journey.
After
another 10 mins, another lightning struck another big tree, this time 20 meters
away, and the tree fell on the road. The passengers started screaming out of
fear. Almost everyone started saying that next time the lightning is going to
strike the bus and that everyone is going to die. The driver was about to start
the engine and take the bus past that tree, one gentleman got up. He asked the
driver not to start the bus. He said to everyone, “There is someone in this bus
whose time has come to die. But obviously we don’t know who that is. But we can
definitely find out who that is. We all see that tree in front of us right?
This is what we will do. Each one of us will go all alone to that tree, touch it and
come back. The person, who is supposed to die, will be struck with lightning
once he/she touches the tree. The rest of us can continue our journey once that
happens. There is no reason for all of us to die for the sake of one one. What
do you all say?”
Everyone
accepted that proposal instantaneously. Humans never think that the time has come to depart from this world.
The
gentleman who proposed the above, volunteered to be the first person. He slowly
walked towards the tree thinking if he is that unfortunate person. He went near
the tree, touched it and slowly walked back with a great relief. One after the
other, all the passengers in the bus got out of the bus, walked towards the
tree, touched it and came back. Even the bus conductor and the driver went to
the tree touched and came back without getting hurt.
Finally,
it was the turn of the last man. Everyone looked at him as if he was a convict.
Everyone was convinced that he was the person because of whom all the
passengers in the bus were put to risk. Everyone started making unnecessary
comments too. The man got up and walked slowly towards the tree. As soon as he
touched the tree, the lightning struck again. But this time, the lightning
struck the bus and not the tree. All the people in the bus died and this man
survived.
So,
many a times we give credit to ourselves for whatever good happens to us. But
in reality the good that happens to us could be because of multiple good people
around us. These could be your parents, your own family members (Spouse,
children etc), your friends, some elderly people who have blessed you, some
well wishers etc. But we rarely recognize that or attempt to recognize that.
But whenever a bad thing happens to us, we immediately attempt at finding out
the reason or the scapegoat for that.
Whenever
any good happens to us, we should thank God for providing us well wishers
because of whom that good thing has happened to us. Whenever we experience bad
things, we should thank god for punishing less than what we actually deserve.
సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు
PS: There could be typos and other mistakes
in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.
