Respect is earned not demanded – Moral Story

Once upon a time, there was a king named Ramdev. The functioning of his state was going on smoothly. The people were also happy because of the moral qualities of the king.

There were all the comforts in the king’s life. Even after having all the comforts, the king was sad.  He had no child. The people were also sad about this. After some years, the king had a son. Prince birth was celebrated for many days in the whole state. A grand feast was organized for the citizens at the palace. The people also rejoiced in the joy of the king.

The king named the prince Govind. He was kept with great love. Excessive love had spoiled Govind. He had become very stubborn. He had an ego. He wanted the people to always praise him. If no one listened to him, he would create a ruckus. He thought of himself as God.

Everyone was very sad about his behavior. In the king’s court, people would come with Govind’s complaint, due to which the king’s head bowed with shame. One day the king convened a meeting of special ministers. The king said that he was very sad about the behavior of the prince. Prince is the future of this state, if his behavior continues like this, then the prosperity of the state will go away in a few days. A Minister suggested that the prince should be sent to Guruji ashram (hermitage) for guidance and experience of normal life . The king liked this suggestion. The next day, the king reached the ashram of Guruji with his son. The king told him all the things about Prince Govind. Guruji assured the king that when he meets his son after completion of his education, he will be proud of his son. Hearing such words of Guruji, the king was satisfied and left his son in the ashram and returned to the palace.

The next morning Guruji sent a message to Govind through one of his disciples. The disciple told Govind that he had to bring alms for his own food. Hearing this, Govind refused him. The disciple told him that if you want the meal, alms have to be bought by evening, otherwise, you will have to go hungry. Govind did not listen to him in his arrogance. Govind started feeling hungry, But he could not eat because he did not bring alms.

Knowing the need to bring his own food, the next day onwards he started asking for alms. Initially, no one used to give him alms because of his inappropriate speech but gradually, he began to understand the importance of talking to everyone well and speaking sweetly. After a month, Govind got a full meal, after which there were many changes in his behavior. Guruji was watching these changes in the prince carefully.

One morning, Guruji asked Govind to go on a walk with him. They both went on a walk. Along the way, they discussed many topics. Guruji said to Govind, “Govind, you are intelligent and you have more energy, which you should use in the right direction”. Both of them walked into a beautiful garden. There were many beautiful flowers blooming in the garden. Guruji asked Govind to pluck roses for worship. Govind quickly pluck beautiful roses and placed them in front of  Guruji. Now Guruji asked him to pluck the neem leaves and bring them. Govind brought that too. After that Guruji asked him to smell a rose and asked, “How do you feel?” Govind smelled the rose and praised it. Later, Guruji asked Govind to taste the neem leaves and asked about him. As soon as Govind ate neem leaves, his mouth became bitter, and started looking for drinking water. Guruji laughed at Govind’s condition. After drinking the water, Govind calmed down. He asked Guruji the reason for laughing.

Then Guruji said, “when you smelled the rose flower, you liked it and you praised it, but when you ate neem leaves, you disliked it because it was bitter”. Guruji said to Govind “The way you like what you like, you praise it. In the same way, people also praise those who have qualities. If you treat them unfairly and expect praise from them, they will not be able to praise you wholeheartedly. Where there are qualities, there is praise. ’’

Now Prince Govind understood the whole thing in detail and he returned to his palace after completing his education. Due to good changes in Govind, his qualities increased and he became a successful king. He went from a cruel prince to a kind king.

Moral of the Story: 

We should continuously work toward improving our qualities to earn respect.