Article in IMAX – monthly journal of IMA Rajkot; December 2015

There was once a saint known for his foresight and skill of identifying personalities by just asking one question. His fame spread out to faraway towns. Once a king of nearby town heard about him and invited him to his palace. He wanted the saint’s guidance as to which of the three princes would be an appropriate successor of his kingdom.

The wise saint had a parrot who on command spoke….Ramaaramaramaaramara…..
One by one the saint asked the princes to enter his room, to listen to the parrot and to tell what he is speaking.
The first prince said…he is speaking- “mara…mara…   मरा ,  मरा..”.
The second one said… “Maara,    maara, ……मारा …मारा ”
The youngest one said,… “Rama, Rama,   राम, राम ”

The saint went to the king and gave his opinion. He told the king that the eldest prince was a coward. He would fear attacks and remain defensive every time. Such people remain unproductive in life and  derive satisfaction by gaining pity from people.

The second one was a complaining personality, always finding faults in everything and everyone around. Jealous of progress of others, such people draw attention by accusing them for the dissatisfactions in their lives. Finding excuses for the failures in their life is the art they nourish. They themselves dwell in negativity and spread ripples of negativity to the surrounding.

The youngest one made the best meaning of what he heard. He was the person who would find positivity in every situation. He would work with good intention, faith on self and others, a stable mind and gratitude to God for all the happenings in life. He was the most appropriate prince to handle the reins of the kingdom.

We meet different people and situations in life. It is up to us how to interpret them. People say, behave, act and react differently depending on their personalities. How to connect with them, to bring the best outcome should be in our hand.

The universe is like a large television tower. It  emits the same signals for all. We are given the remote of thoughts and intelligence. Sometimes we keep on connecting with wrong wavelength to one particular channel and complain that we are receiving a boring and miserable transmission. This is what happens when we hold on to the wrong channel of self pity, hatred, jealousy, cowardness, laziness.  The moment we find we are dissatisfied with the present programme called life, we should wake up and set the remote to change the wavelength to the virtues of gratitude, love, patience, faith, forgiveness and see the situation and the channel of life, change.

Just learn to search, surf and swap the appropriate channels and remain connected to the best melodies of universe. The universe constantly transmits same amount of blessings to one and all. It is our choice to connect or not, to create happy, satisfied life or to keep grudging.

 Learn to listen and feel the change.

Dr. Neema Sitapara

MD (Ped), PGDip. (Adolescent Pediatrics)