One vacation Pratik went to his uncle’s village. On his arrival, he saw some people surrounding the tree and to his surprise they were all cutting it. The very same tree gave him and his friends shade while playing games, they would swing on it, ate fruits and plucked flowers from it to offer them to God. He curiously asked the people, “Why are you cutting the tree?” One of the men replied to him, “The tree is very useful. We can use the leaves to make medicine; the wood can be used for fire we can sell it and make a living from it.”
Pratik started thinking after listening to him. He suddenly heard a voice from the tree, “Pratik, What are you thinking? Our life is for giving happiness to others, when we are alive we give shade and shelter, bear fruits and flowers, our leaves for medicine and even after we are cut we remain useful for others.” Pratik gently asked the tree, “What do you gain from this?”. The tree replied, "When we live for others we attain a lot of peace and happiness, which results in achieving a higher state of existence”. Pratik agreed with the tree and said, “That’s very true, when I help other people I feel a lot of happiness.” The tree then said, ‘When we live for others then everything is taken care for.’ Pratik admitted, ‘Yes, Yes, People looked after me more when I helped them.’ The tree passed on a message to Pratik to continue living for other people and your work will get done by itself. After telling this to Pratik, the tree fell down to the earth.
Pratik just kept staring at the broken tree. He learnt a lot from the tree. Living all their lives for others, gave a great example to Pratik. He got the strength to live for others.
He decided within himself that from now on he will use his life for others.
Friends , Pratik has decided, what about you?
Related Links:
Videos on Seva
Magazine on Jagat Kalyan