THE MULE
A village temple :
A village had a temple where a famous wooden idol was worshiped. The priest of that temple used to carry this idol on his head every morning and made a round of the village. The people paid their respects to the idol by prostrating and bowing their heads. The people gave vegetables and other things as offerings to the idol.
Priest purchases a mule :
As the priest grew old carrying the idol on his head every day became difficult for him. He purchased a mule, mounted the idol on the mule everyday, and ritually took the idol around the village. He used to keep this mule in the premises of the temple.
As usual, people prostrated, bowed their heads and gave their offerings. The priest gave some of the vegetables to the mule that gladly ate it.
The mule is annoyed and goes out of temple :
The mule always thought that the people prostrated before him, paid respects to him and gave him vegetables and that the greedy priest was stealing away half of it for himself!
One morning the angry mule came out of the temple premises and moved around the village to receive the peoples' respects and vegetables.
To his surprise no one offered him anything. They all made a beeline to the temple to have a Darshan of their God. They gave their offerings there at the temple.
Hungry mule returns :
By that time, the priest had already discovered that he did not need to take the idol around the village. People were ready to come to the temple themselves. The priest therefore sold off the mule to a businessman. The mule was made to carry heavy load at his new place and led a miserable life.
Mule repents :
The mule thought to himself "I was a fool not to understood that the villagers really prostrated and bowed their heads before their God and not me."
MORAL OF THE STORY
- Do not overestimate yourself any time.
- Always try to place yourself in the proper perspective amidst others.
In studies:
- Never overestimate your ability in scoring in an exam.
- Never underestimate your teachers.