In 1867, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told John Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before. John Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time John Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington Roebling, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built. Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With g...

A rich king is looking for a man to marry his daughter. He sets a challenge – each man who wants to qualify, must wear the royal metal armour and climb 500 stairs to the top of the mountain where the king’s castle is located. Many men from around the world come to take on the challenge. But as soon as they put on the armour, the men realize that it will be an impossible task. The first man takes 1 step, then looks up at the remaining 499 steps and gives up. The second goes up 2 steps and also drops down. The same goes for the third, and the forth, and the rest of the men. Except for the last one. The last man sees that its an impossible task, but decides to give his best any ways. He steps on the first step, then take a deep breath and goes to the second step. He takes another breath, the goes to the third step. By the forth step, he barely lifts his shaking feet, yet he makes it to the forth. He feels that he is about to drop, but he decides to push one more time. As he a...

Some one asked Osho : “ If I want to be the Buddha, will I have to renounce all luxuries..” His response is incomparable, which can come only from Osho! Osho says: “I call these people idiots because they don’t know exactly what they are talking about. I will tell you a story about Gautam Buddha; perhaps this will help these idiots to understand. Buddha renounced in ignorance, not as a buddha. He renounced his palace and kingdom and luxuries, not as a buddha – he was as ignorant as you are. He was in search of light, he was in darkness and doubt. He was as blind as anyone can be. In this blindness, in this darkness, he thought perhaps renouncing the kingdom, renouncing all comforts and luxuries was going to help him find truth. What relationship is there? If this is the truth, that you have to renounce the kingdom, then how many people have kingdoms? Then the people who don’t have kingdoms cannot become buddhas. And how big was the kingdom? Do you understand? – there were two t...

A successful executive was travelling down a neighbourhood street, going fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. All of a sudden, a brick flew and smashed into the Jaguar’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? What the hell are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?” The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister, please! I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop!” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother,” ...

There once was a man whose house was very small. It was cluttered with things from wall to wall. Everyday he would say, in a miserable way, “I need more room”. One night he tossed and turned in his bed. His wife’s snoring and his children’s giggling annoyed him. He covered his ears and grumbled, “There is too much noise! If I had a big quiet house, I’d be able to sleep!” As he lay awake, he thought about the wise old womna who lived at the edge of the village. “perhaps She can solve my problem”, he muttered. He threw off his covers, jumped out of the bed, and went to seek the wise old woman. He knocked impatiently at her door. She slowly opened it and said, “it is the middle of the night, why are you here?” “I cant sleep”, complained the man “My wife snores the whole night through. My children annoy me by giggling, too. What is a tired man to do? Can you possibly solve my problem? I need a big quiet house!” She said, “I can solve your problem. Just do as I say.” The man...

An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandfather was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his religious book. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Grandfather! I try to read the religious book just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the religious book do?" The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he ret...

Once, an Ant and a Fly were fighting over who was more important. The Fly said, “Ant! What do you think you are? How can you even think about comparing yourself to me? Look at me! You have to work hard but I pass my time with the rich and the learned. I fly into the temples and taste the offerings. I can sit on the King’s crown and kiss the Queen’s forehead. I do not work, yet have the best life!” The Ant replied, “Don’t be so proud! You are always hated when you enter the temples. You are driven away as soon as you sit on the King’s crown or the Queen’s forehead. You do not have anything left for the difficult times as you are lazy. In winters, you feed yourself on a pile of cow dung. Look at me! I work hard and gather a store of grain for the winter. Later on, when you shiver in the cold, I am safe and at peace in my cosy home. I am prepared to live in any season of the year.” Hard work never fails!

At 26 years old, a Romanian immigrant to America named Benjamin Ferencz served as one of the chief prosecutors at the Nuremburg trials. The trials were run after World War II to prosecute Nazi leaders for war crimes, and Ferencz knew better than most what these crimes looked like – he served in every major European battle (from the beaches of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge) as an artilleryman in the American Army and, following the German surrender, collected evidence of war crimes in concentration camps. It's impossible to experience what he did and not have the entire course of your life changed. Ben Ferencz (after successfully convicting Nazi officers in charge of roaming death squads in Eastern Europe) dedicated his life to changing the way the world views the act of war. From the 40's until the present day, he has been arguing at the United Nations for the creation of the Crime of Aggression – a legal principle that would make the act of war itself illegal. At t...

Big Red and Little Red were two brother oxen who worked on a farm. The farmer’s wife ordered that a pig should be fattened for their daughter’s wedding. Little Red envied the pig when he saw the good food the pig got to eat. He complained to Big Red, “We get only grass and straw whereas the pig eats much better food.” “The pig is being given good food only to be killed,” consoled Big Red. But the young ox was still sad. A few days later, the pig was killed and cooked for the wedding feast. Big Red said to his brother. “Now you see what has happened to the pig? The food he ate was just to fatten him for this day.” Little Red then realised that it was better to eat simple food and live longer than eat delicious food for only a few days.

There lived a fool in a village, whose name as Alas. Alas would do some foolish act every now and then, and, as a result suffer. Occasionally, he would break his leg or hurt himself on account of his foolish deeds. One day, Alas pierced needles in both his eyes. As a result he became blind and was unable to see anything around. Soon he realized that he had once again performed a foolish act. He was now afraid that people would laugh at him and ridicule his folly. His mind began churning — “What shall I tell other people?” Very soon, he got an idea. Next morning, unable to see anything, he was passing through the lanes holding a stick in his hand. Suddenly he was surrounded by a lot of people. ‘Alas, what happened, what happened?” everyone was questioning him. An old person asked him, ‘Alas, have you become blind? Why are you moving with a stick in your hand?” Alas, who was ready to answer the question, replied, “Oh, you see, I pierced needles in my eyes. It is not that I have beco...

Once upon a time, there were two trees in a forest. They grew side by side and were fast friends. In the course of time, both of them turned into fully-grown trees, laden with fruit. In the same forest, there lived many birds and other small creatures, all of whom were very fond of eating fruits. They set their eyes on the two trees to feed themselves. Though the two trees were fast friends, their nature was quite different from each other. One tree was very generous in sharing its fruits with birds and other creatures. It felt happy whenever any bird sat on its branches to enjoy its fruits. The tree would offer its fruits with love to others. The other tree, being of the opposite nature, was very selfish. It never wanted to share its fruits and hated the birds and all other creatures. The tree used to think: “I have grown these fruits with so much of labour and pain. If I share these fruits with others, I will be left with no fruits. This way, I will cease to grow.” It thus, decide...

There was once a flock of birds peacefully pecking seeds under a tree. A hunter came along and threw a heavy net over them. He said, "Aha! Now I have my dinner!" All at once the birds began to flap their wings. Up, up they rose into the air, taking the net with them. They came down on the tree and, as the net snagged in the tree's branches, the birds flew out from under it to freedom. The hunter looked on in amazement, scratched his head and muttered, "As long as those birds cooperate with one another like that, I'll never be able to capture them! Each one of those birds is so frail and yet, together they can lift the net."

A crow lived in the forest and was absolutely satisfied in life. But one day he saw a swan. “This swan is so white,” he thought, “and I am so black. This swan must be the happiest bird in the world.” He expressed his thoughts to the swan. “Actually,” the swan replied, “I was feeling that I was the happiest bird around until I saw a parrot, which has two colors. I now think the parrot is the happiest bird in creation.” The crow then approached the parrot. The parrot explained, “I lived a very happy life until I saw a peacock. I have only two colors, but the peacock has multiple colors.” The crow then visited a peacock in the zoo and saw that hundreds of people had gathered to see him. After the people had left, the crow approached the peacock. “Dear peacock,” the crow said, “you are so beautiful. Every day thousands of people come to see you. When people see me, they immediately shoo me away. I think you are the happiest bird on the planet.” The peacock replied, “I always thought...

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.  When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:  "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.  Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.  What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went fo...