One night Sri Adi Shankaracharya, the great Advaita master, was desperately searching for something on the street outside his small hut. When his pupil returned from his errand, he saw this and curiously asked the Master, “Aacharya, what are you looking for here on the street at this hour?” The Master replied, “I lost my needle, I am looking for it.” The pupil joined him in the search, but after searching for a while, he asked, “Can you try and recollect where you might have dropped it?” Acharya said, “Of course, I remember. I dropped it near the bed in the hut.” The pupil, utterly astonished at the strange answer, said, “Aacharya, you say you lost it inside the house, then why are we looking for it outside?” Master innocently replied, “There is no oil left in the lamp, so it is pitch dark inside the house. Hence I thought of searching for it outside, since there is enough street light here.” While holding back his laugh, the pupil said, “If you lost your needle inside the...

A famous writer was in his study room. He picked up his pen and started writing : Last year, I had a surgery and my gall bladder was removed. I had to stay stuck to the bed due to this surgery for a long time. The same year I reached the age of 60 years and had to give up my favourite job. I had spent 30 years of my life in this publishing company. The same year I experienced the sorrow of the death of my father. And in the same year my son failed in his medical exam because he had a car accident. He had to stay in bed at hospital with the cast on for several days. The destruction of car was another loss. At the end he wrote: Alas! It was such bad year !! When the writer's wife entered the room, she found her husband looking sad & lost in his thoughts. From behind his back she read what was written on the paper. She left the room silently and came back with another paper and placed it on side of her husband's writing. When the writer saw this paper, he fou...

Long time ago there lived a great king and two beggars who always stood at the gate of his palace everyday. As the king rode by everyday, the 1st beggar would say 'blessed is he whom the king helps' while the 2nd beggar would say 'blessed is he whom God helps'. The king always felt pleased to hear the praise of the 1st beggar. One evening the king decided to reward the 1st beggar for all the praise; he ordered his baker to bake a cake and wrapped gold inside the cake. The next day as he rode by, he gave the cake to the 1st beggar as he hailed him as usual.  The 1st beggar who was in dire need of cash sold the cake to the 2nd beggar at a cheap price.  When the 2nd beggar cut open the cake he saw the gold, sold them and became a wealthy man.  He did not return back to the kings gate the next day. As the king rode out of his palace the next day, he saw the 1st beggar still begging for money and stopped to ask him if he ate the cake he gave him.  The 1st begga...

Gru was a rich businessman in a town. One day, two men Ray and Say from a nearby village went to Gru in search of some job. Gru made them both his servants. Days passed by, Ray was very clever and would perfectly complete the tasks assigned to him. Say was foolish and lazy. Gru was very much impressed with Ray's work and gradually started assigning important tasks to Ray. Say started feeling jealous about this. One day he went to Gru and said, "Sir, Ray and I joined as servants on the same day. But you are biased towards Ray. That's why you give important tasks to him. You should give equal importance to me as well." Gru understood what Say was thinking. He told Say, "Ok, I will give you a task. A new ship will arrive at our harbour today. Go and find out, if the ship had arrived." Say was very happy that his master had given him an important task. He ran towards the harbour and returned saying, "Yes Sir, the ship ha...

On a cold winter day Akbar and Birbal took a walk along the lake. A thought came to Birbal that a man would do anything for money. He expressed his feelings to Akbar. Akbar then put his finger into the lake and immediately removed it because he shivered with cold. Akbar said “I don’t think a man would spend an entire night in the cold water of this lake for money.” Birbal replied “I am sure I can find such a person.” Akbar then challenged Birbal into finding such a person and said that he would reward the person with a thousand gold coins. Birbal searched far and wide until he found a poor man who was desperate enough to accept the challenge. The poor man entered the lake and Akbar had guards posted near him to make sure that he really did as promised. The next morning the guards took the poor man to Akbar. Akbar asked the poor man if he had indeed spent the night in the lake. The poor man replied that he had. Akbar then asked the poor man how he managed to spend the night in th...

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.” Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.”

John was a little boy who was always kind to others. His dad was poor and a woodcutter. One day, John was carrying some food for his father and walked into the forest. On his way, he saw a very old man sitting under a tree. When John walked past, the old man said, "Dear little boy, I am very hungry and tired. Please give me something to eat". John only had little food for his father and himself. He thought for a while and took his food packet and happily gave it to that old man. Suddenly there was flash of light. The old man turned into an elf. "Dear John, you are very kind and helpful", said the elf. He gave a small bag to John and said, "This is a magic bag. This will give you gold coins whenever you need them. Just say 'Fill up bag' and then this bag will fill up with gold coins. When you have had enough coins, just say 'Stop Bag'. John thanked the elf and ran home carrying the magic bag. He told his parents about the magic bag and said,...