Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Chicken

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds." The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done. That is what the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

The moral of the story: You become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream to become an eagle follow your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A good story!



I had ready one similar story much time back from “101 Tales of Wisdom from Yogiji Maharaj” (His Holiness Yogiji Maharaj was the fourth spiritual successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan).



The story goes something this way…



Once, while out hunting, a lioness gave birth to a cub amidst a flock of goats. She left her newly born baby amidst the goats and returned to her den in the forest. This baby lion began to live with the group of goats. He ate, slept and stayed with them. As he grew up, the shepherd named him Lindiyo, a name normally reserved for goats and sheep. The lion responded to his name, skipped and danced, like every tame animal. Lindiyo grew up into the full frame of a lion but he himself never knew it.
To himself, he was only a weak, frail goat!

One day, while they were on lush pastures, a huge lion roared and attacked the flock. All the goats fled with fear; they ran in all directions to save their lives. Even Lindiyo scampered away. The lion was astounded and looked twice. ''How did a lion get mixed up with a flock of goats?'' he asked himself. He leaped and chased Lindiyo and soon seized him. Lindiyo was trembling with fright. He shut his eyes tight. ''Hey, you!'' the lion shook him, ''You're a lion. How did you end up in this group of goats?''

''Please, let me go. My name is Lindiyo, Sir, please let me go!'' the lion-goat helplessly pleaded for mercy. ''Come come! You're not a goat! Rather, goats are your daily dinner. Why have you lost your senses? Come with me to the riverside!'' So saying the lion dragged Lindiyo to the river bank and where the water was quite still, he showed him his own reflection. ''See, look at your face. It's like mine. You have a golden mane, see the paws and the claws, everything is like mine.

You are a lion and not a goat.'' He further taught him to stand tall and roar like a lion. ''Come on speak like I speak and roar; and remember these goats are our food, not friends.'' Lindiyo suddenly realised his true identity and broke out from his shell of limitations. He himself roared and drove away the goats. He had become a lion from a lion-goat.



We too, suffer from a similar problem. Our true identity is Atma- the soul, but we have somehow lost that knowledge and believe ourselves to be the body. We must realize our real nature and identity as the Atma and know that being Atma we have very high potentials and can make the impossibles turn possible. The Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is more than the Physical Quotient (PQ), Emotional Qoutient (EQ) and the Intelligent Quotient (IQ).