Opportunities to fortify character

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురు ర్విష్ణుః గురు ర్దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ప రబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాంబరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతిస్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Whenever we abide by dharma and do good deeds, God tests that character. That’s more of an opportunity for us to stick to our character, which would not only fortify our belief but also get us a long-lasting fame. There have been multiple such instances in the past and let’s touch upon couple of those in this post.

We all know about the great “Daana Karna”. He got the title “Daana” because of his character of giving anything that’s asked. He would not think twice before giving away. So one day, Indra (Arjuna’s father), came in the guise of a old poor brahmin. He asked Karna for alms. Karna told him to seek anything he wanted. The Brahmin asked him for his kavacha and kundalaalu. These are things that Karna was born with, as he was born to Kunti with the blessings of Surya Deva (Sun god). Karna knew who it was. Despite that, without flinching, he cut the kavacha and kundalaalu from his body and handed them to the seeker. The most important point to note here is lack of expectation on the part of Karna.

Right after that, Indra takes his original form and grants Karna a weapon. The power of this weapon is that it could kill anyone on whom it is launched. Karna always wanted to kill arjuna and his ambition in life was just that. Just by virtue of sticking to his character, Karna could get a weapon with which he could potentially achieve his life ambition. So, God, in the form of devathas, tested Karna and gave him an opportunity to achieve eternal fame. This made Karna the famous “Daana Karna”.

There used to be a famous king by the name Sibi Chakravarthy. He was also very famous for his Daana gunam. One day, Indra and Surya devathas decided to test his character. Indra took the form of an eagle and Surya a pigeon. The eagle started chasing the pigeon and both of them flew into the palace of Sibi Chakravarthy. The pigeon started speaking and asked the king to save her. The king was shocked to see a talking Pigeon. The eagle told the king to release the pigeon so that it could have its meal. The king was once again shocked to see a talking eagle. Before he could question that, both the birds mentioned that they have some boon by virtue of which they can speak human language.

The Eagle said, “Its natural for an eagle to eat a pigeon. You know Dharma and you should release the pigeon so that I can have my meal.”

The Pigeon said, “I am seeking refuge with you. Please save me and I don’t want to be killed by that eagle.”

Both the birds were right. The king said to eagle, “You let me know what all food you want and I will be able to provide you with that. But please leave the pigeon.”

The Eagle responded, “For me, there is nothing that tastes better than raw flesh. So allow me to have my food.”

The King thought for a while and said, “Instead of pigeon’s flesh, let me offer my flesh. I will give you flesh from my body, which would be of equivalent weight of the pigeon.” The eagle agreed to that. The king took flesh from his thigh and put that on a scale with the pigeon being on the other side. How much ever the king tried to cut flesh from his body, it would not match the weight of the pigeon. After a while, the king put himself on the other side of the scale, thus offering himself to the eagle. The devathas took their original form and said, “Your fame will be eternal. You will be known as long as there is life on earth.”

When you look at the above two incidents, it’s very clear that one should not lose the character when faced with a testing/challenging situation. We should treat that as an opportunity to fortify our character rather than wilting under pressure and do something which would be contradictory to our character.  

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Dharmas Intricacies by Dharma Raja

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురు ర్విష్ణుః గురు ర్దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ప రబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాంబరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతిస్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

After Yudhishtira loses everything in the gambling with Sakuni, Dussasana drags Draupadi by her hair to the sabha and in front of everyone, he tries to undress her. The episode of draupadi vastraapaharanam and Krishna ensuring that Draupadi did not get undressed is a known one. Anyway, Dussaasana gave up after sometime.

Incident 1:

Seeing this Bhima’s blood boils and he takes an oath in front of everyone that he will not only kill dussaasana, but will also rip his heart apart and drink his blood. Every one, including Dharma Raja remains silent.

Karna stoops to a level, where he said that its ok for Draupadi to choose another husband after having 5 husbands like a vesya (prostitute). Taking this as a cue, Duryodhana shows his thigh to Draupadi and asks her to come and sit on it.

Incident 2:

Bhima once again could not tolerate this. He takes another oath that he will blast the thighs of Duryodhana in the war and will split them open. He looks at Yudhishtira and then at the arms for his permission. Yudhishtira did not even bother to look at Bhima. Bheeshma, Drona etc pacify Bhima citing some great principles. They recovered from their brain dead state, which they entered into when Duryodhana ordered Dussaasana to bring draupadi into the court.

After all the damage was done, Dhritaraashtra woke up. He informs Duryodhana to scrap everything. He requests Yudhistira that he should not take all these incidents seriously as that’s against the nature of Yudhistira and his righteousness. He then calls Draupadi and grants her 3 boons.

Draupadi seeks the release of her husbands and herself from the slavery. Dhrutarashtra promptly grants it.

Then she wanted her husbands to be given the kingdom and Dhrutarashtra agrees to that and tells her to seek one more boon. She stops there citing that a kshatriya woman can only seek 2 boons and not more.

Incident 3:

Bhima says that the kingdom acquired through a woman is disgraceful and rises once again saying that he would fight the kauravas right away and win everything from them. Dharma raja raises his arm and instructs Bhima to calm down.

Alright, so when you look at the above 3 incidents, Dharma Raja remained silent for the first two incidents, but orders Bhima to calm down in the 3^rd incident. Why did he do that? Why did he not bother when the first two incidents happened and took a decision during the third?

Kavi Saamrat Viswanaadha Satyanarayana has answers for those questions.

During the first two incidents Yudhistira was still a slave of the Kauravas. So, he is no one to take decisions. He is not the signing authority as a slave is supposed to act as per the master’s directive. So he did not even bother to look at Bhima or respond to him. Isn’t it amazing how some one could still think of Dharma in that state?

So, at the time of 3^rd incident, he was not a slave anymore, then instead of stopping Bhima, why did he not go ahead with Bhima’s idea of waging a war? Bhima said that the kingdom obtained because of Draupadi is disgraceful. So, how could Dharma Raja utilize the power obtained because of Draupadi and issue an order to wage war? Wouldn’t that be disgraceful as well? Hence Dharma Raja said No. While Bhima could figure out that enjoying the kingdom obtained through Draupadi is disgraceful, he could not extend it to waging a war using the freedom obtained by Draupadi. Even that is equally disgraceful.

Dharma is extremely complicated. Knowing it is not easy and importantly abiding by it, especially when in trouble is not easy at all. You need people like Kavi Samrat to explain these kinds of inticacies.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Body Language

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురు ర్విష్ణుః గురు ర్దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ప రబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాంబరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతిస్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

The great Yudhishtira loses everything in gambling. Despite having so much wisdom and importantly knowing whats dharma and adharma, he pledges everything in the gambling with Sakuni. By virtue of the boons granted to Draupadi by Dhrutaraashtra they regain their kingdom and their slavery to Kauravas gets repealed.

But with a different plan in mind Sakuni provokes Duryodhana to force Dhrutaraashtra to invite Dharmaraja for yet another game of dice.

Dharma raja, being dharma raja, accompanied by all his brothers and Draupadi visits Hasthinapuram for the game once more, citing the reason – Law abiding Kshatriya cannot reject an invitation/offer by another Kshatriya to play a game of dice.

As before he loses the game and by virtue of it, the Pandavas, with Draupadi, were supposed to spend 12 years in Aranyam (Forest as hermits) and 1 year in Agnyaatham (if recognized or identified during that period, then there will be a repeat of 13 years). Yudhishtira has to be unbelievably (I would love to use the word foolishly here instead) optimistic to agree to such conditions after all that happened in the earlier game.

So after losing, the five brothers along with Draupadi leave Hasthinapuram with their main purohit Dhoumya leading them.

After they leave Dhrutaraashtra calls Vidura and asks him how the Pandavas left the kingdom. He knew that his putra kaama(love for his son) has overcome his righteousness. He now wants security for his sons and the kingdom.

Vidura responds as below.

Dharmaraja left covering his face with a cloth. He wanted to ensure that his angered sights are not cast on any normal citizens, lest they should destroy them.

Bheemasena walked with stretched palms. Very eager to use them to make multiple kauravas bite the dust.

The great archer Arjuna was throwing sand while he walked, implying that he would be shooting more arrows than the number of sand particles that were being thrown. That would ensure that no body can escape his arrows in the war.

Nakula, covered his entire body with dust, when he left. He, being such a handsome fellow, did not want the people drowned in sorrow seeing him like that.

Sahadeva walked without looking up, with his face completely facing the ground below. Any one who sees his sorrowful face would suffer from troubles was the reason why he walked like that.

Draupadi walked in a swaggering manner with her hair let loose and with a sorrowful face indicating the way how the wives of Kauravas would end up after the war.

While the Pandavas must have exhibited what they felt or what they wanted to do, it was Vidura’s wisdom that allowed him to interpret that body language.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Paapam Punyam setoff

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురు ర్విష్ణుః గురు ర్దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ప రబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాంబరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతిస్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

It’s been a long while since I have posted something. The standard cliché “Been busy” doesn’t hold any water J

One day Sage Narada visits the Pandavas after their marriage to Draupadi. Vyaasa mahaamuni informs Pandavas to abide by what Narada maharshi says. So, after the Pandavas perform the arghya paadya and aachamanam, they make him sit on the highest possible throne.

Narada asks Draupadi to leave and ensures that only the Pandava brothers are around and told them, “There have been multiple instances in the past where close friends, brothers fought for the sake of women. This has led to the destruction of many great men. While I know that you brothers have the highest and best possible virtues, its important to ensure that you don’t fight amongst yourselves because of Draupadi.” He gives a full description of the story of two rakshasas by names Sunda, upasunda. They were close brothers who did great tapassu. The devatas and indra got scared and rushed to Lord Brahma. Brahma said that he will take care of it and shows up in front of the brothers.

Brahma asks them to seek boons. Of all their boons, Brahma rejects their boon of “no death” and grants them the rest of the boons. These rakshasas start carrying on heinous activities in the universe. The devatas once again reach out to Lord Brahma who asks viswakarma to create an extremely beautiful woman – Tilothama. She is instructed to get the asuras destroyed. She comes down to earth and starts going around in the forests where Sunda Upasunda live.

As soon as they see her, each of them grabs a hand of her.

Both of them said, “Be my wife.”

Tilothama said, “I can marry only one of you.”

“Who would you want to marry?”

Tilothama responded, “I want you to fight with each other and I would marry the winner.”

Both of them fought fiercely and killed each other.

Narrating the story, Narada wanted Pandavas to reach nd agreement with respect to Draupadi. That’s when they took an oath on the following lines.

Draupadi would spend a year with each of the Pandavas. During that one year, none of the other four brothers would visit the house where Draupadi stayed. If that’s violated, then the brother(s) violating that would have to go on a pilgrimage for one full year all alone. They have to spend that time like a sanyasi.

Narada leaves and the Pandavas spend time happily. At one time a Brahmin came running to the Pandavas saying that his cow had been stolen and that the Calf has been crying continuously. Hearing this, Arjuna becomes very angry and goes to the house where the arms are stationed. That’s where Dharmaraja was staying with Draupadi. While Arjuna was aware of that and importantly that would mean the violation of the oath, he still goes ahead and grabs his bow and arrows and runs after the thieves. He finds them and the thieves fight with Arjuna in which Arjuna kills the thieves and hands over the cow to the Brahmana.

After that Arjuna goes to his elder brother and seeks his permission to leave for Pilgrimage for having violated the oath they had taken collectively. Dharmaraja said, “Killing a thief, who has stolen a cow, is equivalent to performing Aswamedha yaaga. Removing the tears of a Brahmin is equivalent to performing multiple other yagnas. So you have gained lot of Punya and so you don’t need to go on this pilgrimage.”

Arjuna said, “Gaining punya doesn’t offset the sin that I have committed. Both have their own separate channels. I still have to do praayaschitam for the sin that I have committed. So, give me permission to go on my pilgrimage.”

Listening to this sound justification Dharmaraja could not contradict and gives him permission to go on the pilgrimage.

Some times humans end up doing poojas or visiting temples or offering donations in temples to offset the bad deeds that they do. But if we cause harm to some one the good deeds would not erase those.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Hanuma's Forgetfulness

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

When Sugreeva had sent armies towards the four directions in search of Sita,  Hanuma, Angada, Jaambavanta and others were chosen for the south side. After multiple hurdles they came to know of Sita’s presence in Lanka through Sampaati. Then they reached the banks of the Sea, not knowing the next steps. Everyone was asked about their capacity in terms of crossing the sea. Different people gave different opinions with regards to crossing 100 Yojanas. Some said they can jump 25 yojanas, some said 50, Angada said he can cross but can’t come back. At that time Hanuma was sitting in one corner without uttering a word. Jaambavanta approached him and made him realise his strengths. Then Hanuma realised his strength and after that, as they say its history.

We all know that Hanuma had a curse on him by the sages that he would be forgetful and would not know his strength unless reminded.

But there were multiple instances in Ramayanam, where Hanuma exhibited his forgetfulness. Many times in many lectures it is said that Hanuma’s curse got diffused when Jambavanta reminded him of his strength. But it is possible that Hanuma continued to be forgetful. Lets see some instances. Some of these are before the sea crossing and some are after.

Sugreeva sought Sri Rama’s help so that his wife and kingdom could be restored to him. But Vali was killed by Sri Rama and Tara was wailing profusely with Vali’s head on her lap, Hanuma went up to her and said that she should carry out the coronation of Angada as the king. Hanuma is not an ordinary person to speak randomly or irrationally or without sense. I would attribute this statement of Hanuma, which definitely would have shocked Sugreeva J, as an act of forgetfulness. Ofcourse, Tara rejected that opinion and saved Sugreeva.

When Lakshmana threatened Sugreeva with dire consequences, for having forgotten his promise to help his brother find his wife, Tara came to Sugreeva’s rescue. At that time Hanuma sided with Lakshmana as if Sugreeva did not do anything towards keeping his promise. At that time Sugreeva passed on the orders to Hanuma that he is reducing the time for the army to assemble from 15 days to 10 days. This also clearly indicates that Hanuma has actually forgotten the earlier orders. This also seems like an act of forgetfulness on the part of Hanuma.

During the war, when Lakshmana gets hit with Trishul of Raavana, he falls down unconscious. At that time Sushena asks Hanuma to get the same herb that was used earlier. Hanuma reaches the mountain and forgets which herbs to pick. And so he pulls out the entire mountain and gets it to the war field for sushena to treat Lakshmana. This also reminds us of Hanuma’s forgetfulness.

When Hanuma visited Sita in Lanka, he saw all the female raakshasas around Sita. At that time he saw Trijata, daughter of Vibhishana, telling Sita about a dream. She consoled Sita and assured her that everything would be fine. Importantly, she told all the raakshasis around Sita that they should immediately seek Sita’s pardon. At that time Sita told Trijata that they were just following the orders of their king. So, they do not deserve any punishment from her. Once the war ended and Hanuma was asked by Sri Rama to inform Sita and get her back, hanuma went to Sita. Seeing the Raakshasis Hanuma asked Sita’s permission to destroy all the Raakshasis. Hanuma doesn’t need to be told something twice and what else can this be attributed to, other than forgetfulness.

After the war on their way back to Ayodhya, Sri Rama asked Hanuma to reach Ayodhya before them. “Inform Bharatha about my Victory and check out the body language and feelings of Bharatha. In case Bharatha is attached to the kingdom, then I shall return to the forests directly from here.” Hearing this, Hanuma reaches Ayodhya and shares the details, of all the events that happened, to Bharatha. But after that there is no mention of Hanuma returning to Sri Rama and confirming the status to Sri Rama. This is not such an insignificant event for Valmiki to have missed it. Knowing the status of Bharatha, Hanuma must have been filled with so much happiness that he would have forgotten to return to Sri Rama to inform him the status.

The purpose of this post is not to doubt the ability of Hanuma or his greatness. His character is impeccable. If at all any negative points come out against him, those are because of his forgetfulness, which is a curse, rather than his character. Importantly, all my above statements could be wrong because of my inability to understand things in the right perspective.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Vibheeshana - Not a traitor

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

Before Independence Gopalakrishna Gokhale started giving lectures to people in lot of areas stating that completely boycotting everything English is not good for the country. His intention was not to take sides with British though. On one of the days in a magazine called “Bande Maataram”, run by Aurobindo Ghosh, an article was published with the title, “Exit Vibheeshana”. This article was about Gokhale being a traitor. This had two problems. First the allegation that Gokhale was a traitor and second Vibheeshana.

Just to refresh the memory – Vibheeshana is that Raavana’s brother from Raamayanam. He tried his best convincing his brother Raavana to return Sita to Sri Rama. Despite all his attempts, Raavana not only ignored him, but also insulted him. With adharma growing in Lanka, Vibheeshana did not have a choice but to take side with Dharma.

So he approached Sri Rama and sought refuge. Sri Rama being Sri Rama sought the advice of all his colleagues. Except Hanuman, everyone advised against the acceptance of Vibheeshana. Their justification was, “If some one can desert his brother, he is definitely not trust worthy.” After listening to all opinions, Sri Rama made a very simple statement, “Any one who comes to me seeking refuge, I wont refuse. Even if Raavana comes and seeks refuge, I will pardon him and protect him.”

Anyway, let me not digress to Sri Rama’s character discussion here. That’s a never ending topic. So, Vibheeshana took the side of dharma and joined Sri Rama. Now multiple questions arise by this act.

Instead of joining Sri Rama, he could have been neutral and left Lanka and gone somewhere.

A human being has to be good or bad. Being Neutral is not a good choice. If you know that something is bad, then you have to take the side of good. You cant sit on the fence.

Ok fine. Taking sides is ok. But why does he have to share all the secrets with Sri Rama and his army?

Once you have taken a side, you have to be committed. You have to do full justice to your relationship and commitment. You cant make half hearted attempts.

Maybe by taking sides with Sri Rama, he wanted the kingdom?

Vibheeshana is not only a Dharma seeking guy, he is a very wise guy. Vibheeshana would get the kingdom only if Raavana loses the war. If Raavana loses the war, there would be nothing left in Lanka. So, who would be interested in ruling a grave yard?

So, finally, is Vibheeshana a traitor? To answer that lets define who a traitor is. A traitor is the one who takes sides with the enemy to make his/her country a slave to the enemy.

From the above definition, Vibheeshana never wanted/made Lanka a slave country of Sri Rama. In fact, he ruled it as a king. He took it up at a stage when there was nothing left in Lanka after the war.

So, before we call anyone a traitor, lets think.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Feeling of getting cheated

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

During our childhood all of us would have heard this story of a child and a tiger. It goes like this.

Once a father and a son go to the forest for cutting the wood. The father leaves the child in a safe place and asks him to shout for him if he encounters any danger. Saying this the father goes into the woods to cut some trees.

The child being naughty starts playing with his father. He starts shouting, “Father! There is a tiger here. Please come and help me.” Hearing this, the father goes running to his son and sees that there is no tiger. The child laughs and the father realizes that the child was playing a prank and goes back to his work.

Second time the child does the same. The father runs back to his son once more and realizes that the child has played the prank again. Father goes back angrily.

Third time the child does the same. The father assumes that the child is playing the prank again and doesn’t go to him. But this time the tiger actually is there and despite the child shouting multiple times, father doesn’t go to him. The tiger kills the child.

Whenever we hear this story, we remember only one moral - You should not lie. But honestly, there is one more. If you recall the story once more, the father doesn’t go to the child because he did not want to get cheated once more. This is a big problem that all of us face. All of us hate this feeling of getting cheated. That is despite the magnitude of loss, material or otherwise. We never want to get cheated. Rather we never want to get the feeling of getting cheated, irrespective of whether we actually get cheated or not.

If only the father did not have that feeling, he would have gone again to his son and maybe he would have saved his son. So, it’s better to get cheated than a lack of reaction to that, which might end up in a loss. It’s better to be left with a feeling of getting cheated.

Watched a movie couple of years back. One of the characters in that movie would be waiting at a road junction along with his friend in a car. A ragged woman approaches him and shows him a medical prescription and says that she is suffering from cancer and needs money for buying medicines.

Out of sympathy, he gives good sum of money to that lady. The friend says, “You should not trust these kinds of people. They are not trust worthy.”

The following day the same friend goes back to this guy and says, “Do you remember the lady to whom you gave the money for purchasing the medicines? She doesn’t have any cancer. That’s her way of begging. I told you not to give those alms to her. This is how you get cheated. Be careful next time.”

To that the guy responds, “Thank God! She doesn’t have cancer. I was worried about that. Now that she doesn’t have cancer, I am relieved.”

That’s very inspiring. This is again a very simple philosophy. The guy was more bothered about the problem the lady was facing than he getting cheated.

When we give donations, especially the small ones, many a time we think if the party taking the donation would use it wisely or not. Even if 9 out of the 10 people misuse it, and if that money gets utilized properly by even 1 person, we should be happy about it. If we have that kind of a perspective, we can be very happy in our lives. If we end up with the feeling of getting cheated, we will left with sadness.

So, let’s leave the feeling of getting cheated and stay happy.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.