Essence of Education!!

There was an ashram of saint on the banks of the Ganges in Kashi. His disciples also used to live there.

One day one of his disciples asked, "What is the essence of education?"

Saint smiled and said, "One day you will know about it yourself.."

After some days, at night the saint gave a book to his disciple and said, "Take this and keep it on the chair in my room."

It was dark inside the room. Disciple went to the room with the book but returned immediately, trembling with fear.

Saint asked, "What happened? Why are you so scared?"

Disciple said, "There is a snake in your room.."

Saint calmly said, "It must be an illusion. From where will the snake come into that room! You go back."

Saying this, Saint gave the disciple a mantra and said, "Enter room while reciting this mantra. If there is a snake, it will run away after listening to that mantra."

Disciple again went into the room, chanting mantra but the snake was still there. It didn't move. He came out in fear again and went to the saint and said, "Snake is not going from there."

This time the saint handed him a lighted lamp and said, "Take this lamp. If there is a snake, it will run away seeing the light of the lamp."

The disciple went to the room with a lighted lamp. As soon as he entered the room, he saw that there was no snake.

He found that it was a rope hanging in the place of the snake and because of the darkness, he mistook that piece of rope as a snake.

Now, the disciple went to the saint and said, "There was no snake, it was a piece of rope. In dark, I mistook it for a snake."

Saint smiled and said, "Son, This is the answer to your question. Just like this illusion that you saw today, this world is entangled in the deep web of illusions, and Only by the light of knowledge can this web of illusions be removed. This is the essence of education."

Flash: Many times, in our lives, personal as well as professional, we behave just like kids; that is, giving instantaneous conclusive comments about people/situations/responsibilities bestowed to us, instead of judging them properly.

Moral: Looks could be deceptive. Hence, don't conclude immediately. Allow your brain to think/ analyze people/situations before getting judgmental about them.

"Judging a person/ situation does not define who they are... it defines who you are !!!"