Give Me Back My Guitar

“GIVE ME BACK MY GUITAR” .

This is the frustrated grasshopper yelling in continuation of the famous fable “Ant and the grasshopper” .

After starving in the winter, the grasshopper learnt his lessons the hard way. He hung his guitar, put a stop to his singing and dancing. He started leading an ant’s life, carrying heavy loads on his back the whole day.

This way, he could gather plenty of food but after a while he just could not take it any more. He did not want to continue leading an ant’s life. He wanted to go back to playing his guitar and dancing the whole day.

This grasshopper wanted his guitar back but what about us?

Many of us continue to lead an ant’s life. We all have left behind what we enjoy due to our conditioning right from childhood. We in turn impress upon our children that they have no option but to lead a life based on the “ant’s philosophy”, which articulates that:

Hard work is the key to success. Life is not about enjoying but toiling and struggling.

Every second counts. A second wasted is a second killed.

Worrying about the future is more important than enjoying the present moment.

Ancient Indian wisdom strongly disagrees with this philosophy. It advocates a radically different approach. It urges you to ask

Is it possible for the grasshopper to lead a life which it enjoys and still be successful?

The answer is an emphatic yes. In fact Ancient Indian Wisdom goes a step further and says that this is the natural and correct way to live and the easiest way to succeed.

Truly great and successful people are perfect examples to whet this out. Ask them and they will tell you that they have never worked hard, even for a single day.

Day after day, Year after Year, they keep putting more number of hours than most of us but never feel the load. Many of us complain even if we work for a fraction of that time. .

Some of the fables that we have grown up with have been written more than 2500 years ago. In today’s context, some messages might have become irrelevant or even misleading.

To take another example, the moral of the “Hare and Tortoise” story is, Slow and steady wins the race. If the chastened Hare were to race the tortoise again, would you bet on the tortoise?

I would not. After his defeat, the hare is sure to realize that he lost the race due to his own fault and not because the tortoise was slow and steady. This time he would not repeat the mistake of taking a nap before completing the race, leaving the poor tortoise absolutely no chance.

However the fact remains that for generations, these bedtime stories are immensely popular all over the world. There will not be many children or parents who do not know these stories or have not enjoyed reading them together.

It is the popularity of these stories that makes it possible to deliver more powerful and relevant messages.

Hence, this book, which attempts to capture the powerful messages of “ancient Indian wisdom” and conveys it methodically through a set of six all time favorite fables .

GIVE ME BACK MY GUITAR was originally created and shared with my daughter . The stories and their messages had a significant impact not only on her but also on us .

The experience confirmed my view that Bed time stories are highly effective in inculcating the right values in our children and not just for putting them off to sleep . I personally believe that imparting this wisdom is the best gift that we can give to them. The sooner we start , the better.

This is what prompted me to share it with others . While these are bed time stories , the messages are not limited to children but applicable to everyone irrespective of age , gender , religion and nation . It has been my attempt to write this book in a manner that the whole family can enjoy it together

Also , I want the reader to understand that I am neither the origin nor the custodian of this wisdom but just its communicator. It is my humble effort to pass this wisdom to our children.

I am confident that your investment in this book will endear you to the “ancient Indian wisdom “ and subsequently have a significant impact on the quality of your lives .

I have exercised considerable freedom in changing these stories . Also the conversations amongst Sanghamitra ( my wife ) , Sahaja ( our daughter ) have been edited . Not all conversations have actually happened . This has been done to give the whole book a continous flow and highly readable while giving the apt messages .

I urge you to go ahead and indulge in the contents . Please judge for yourself whether this book is useful or not .

I would be grateful for all feedback positive or negative . I intend to continually improve this work based on that .

May God Bless you and your children with lasting happiness , the ultimate purpose of life .. …..

Published At: http://www.isnare.com
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