The Perfect Answer

A teacher teaching Maths to 7 year-old Arnab asked him,"If I give you one apple,one apple and one apple,how many apples will you have?" Within a few seconds Arnab replied confidently,"Four!"

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three). She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen properly," she thought. She repeated,"Arnab, listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?"

Arnab had seen the disappointment on his teacher's face. He calculated again on his fingers. But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make the teacher happy. His search for the answer was for the correct one, but one that will also make his teacher happy. This time hesitatingly he replied,"Four..."

The disappointment stayed on the teacher's face. She remembered that Arnab liked strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn't like apples and that is making him lose focus. This time with an exaggerated excitement and twinkling in her eyes she asked,"If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many will you have?"

Seeing the teacher happy, young Arnab calculated on his fingers again. There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed. With a hesitating smile young Arnab enquired,"Three?"

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained. Once again she asked him,"Now if I give you one apple, one apple and one apple how many will you have?"

Promptly Arnab replied,"Four!"

The teacher was aghast. "How Arnab, how?" she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.

In a voice that was low and hesitating young Arnab replied,"Because I already have one apple in my bag."

Bottomline:
When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you expected, don't think they are wrong. There maybe an angle that you have not understood at all. You will have to listen and understand, but never listen with a predetermined notion.

Lovely story from the book- Stories from here and there..

Magical Moment :)

Well this is a repost from my previous blog....

Today instead of reading something from here and there, thought of reading my old stuff...
worth sharing anyday...

This is a story of a man who was an atheist. He was surprised to see the increasing belief of people of his village in God. He was shocked to see that many people carried on their living with just a strong hope that the Almighty will however feed them. He thought of testing himself that how come God feeds anyone.

The next day he didn’t take his breakfast and was determined not to eat anything throughout the day. He said, “Let me see how God feeds me today..!!!”

He went to the forest and climbing a tree he sat on its branch. The morning went by, but he was determined that God wont come and feed him at any cost. As the Sun reached its peak he saw some labourers were passing by. They were tired of the heavy hardwork in the fields and wanted to have rest for a while. They had with themselves their lunch. They sat under the shed of the same tree where the man was sitting on the branch. When they were about to have their lunch they saw some dacoits who were passing through the forests. The labourers feared in the thought that the dacoits had come to attack them. They left their lunch there itself and ran away from there. The man saw the left food and smilingly said, “God, I wont go down and have it. You yourself have to feed me without any efforts from my side,” and didn’t move from his place.

When the dacoits came near that tree they saw the food and felt of having it. One of them saw this man on the branch and pointed him out to others. The head of their gang said to others, “Somebody is trying to trap us with the help of this man, we cant have this food as it can be poisonous. Let us make this man have this food and if nothing happens to him then we will have it.”
He ordered his fellowman to bring the man down the tree. His fellowman went and said to the man, “Come down and have this food, else we will kill you.”
To which the man replied, “I wont come down and have the food at any cost.”
This amazed the head of the gang and he ordered his fellowman to climb the tree and feed the food to the man. The fellowman climbed the tree and he forcefully tried to feed the man. The man was made to have the food. He started laughing and said, “God I am sorry that I tried to test your powers, now I too believe that its You who feed the whole of the world.”

The above incident made him a theosophist.

One is never a theosophist from birth. The many magical moments make us believe that a strong power is ruling the world. They turn our beliefs towards our life upside down and makes us enjoy the life more fruitfully.

Hope you too have come across such magical moments…