There was a mango tree in a forest and kids used to take away the mango which were easily pluckable. After some days, the tree had no mangoes left at the extremes and hence no more kids now took the risk of climbing high up to get them.
One day, a kid passed by the tree and wanted to have the mangoes. He was hungry and did not think much & climbed the tree. He did not realize the risk involved, until he slipped off the branch and was hanging on the tree. He was very scared and started crying for help.
Then, there was a sadhu (priest) passing by at the same time. He saw this kid crying for help. He started laughing at the kid loudly for few minutes. The kid asked him to stop laughing and help him get down safely. The sadhu then started throwing stones on him, which made the kid more furious. The kid started moving his leg and tried gripping the adjacent branch which was stronger.
As the sadhu observed this, he left the place and the kid alone. The kid got so angry; He wanted to get down quickly and catch hold of the sadhu in order to know the reason behind his abrupt conduct.
The kid got down safely and got hold of the sadhu. Arrogantly, the kid questioned him, “Who the hell are you to laugh and throw stones on me? If you can’t help me, you have no rights to trouble me in such a situation.” Smiling back to the kid, the sadhu replied calmly, “There were 2 reasons for laughing at you; One, you were so greedy of having the mangoes, you did’nt even realize the risk involved in climbing the tree. There is no harm in taking risk, but you should be confident enough to get yourself out, if your encounter some problem instead of crying, that was my 2nd reason for laughing. “
The kid then realized his mistake and asked the sadhu the reason of throwing stones on him. The sadhu replied, “It is not possible for anyone to climb the tree to save you since, the branch you were hanging was weak and it would have not tolerated any more weight. Only you could save your life!”
“You would try moving only if you were made to move; hence I started throwing the stones on you. I saw that you were trying to catch hold of another stronger branch in order to get down. I left the place that moment, since I knew you would get down safely now.”
Moral of the story: Never risk your life to fulfill your greedy needs. What is the point of losing your life for things which you can’t enjoy?
Even if you take risks, be confident enough to face any further good/bad consequences. Don’t regret the decision taken, once you are in trouble.
Only we can get out of any problem. We have the capability, it only needs to be recognized and used appropriately. Remember, we would not get people like the “sadhu” to guide us always, we only need the guiding light which is always enlightening within us, just need to recognize it.
