BHARATAM: Real happiness comes when you help others

One day, a professor and his student were taking a walk. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying on the path. The shoes were in a bad shape but looked like were being used by a labourer who was working in a close by field.

The student turned to the professor, saying: “Let us play the man a trick. We will hide his shoes and hide behind those bushes and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them.”

“My young friend,” answered the professor. “We should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man. Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide and watch how this affects him.”

The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes and felt something, so he stooped down to check and to his amusement found the coin. He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket and proceeded to put on the other shoe, but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin. His feelings overcame him. He fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered a prayer in which he spoke of his sick and helpless wife, his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.

The professor asked, “Are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?”

The student replied still standing shell shocked barely managed to say, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Believe in the law of giving: If you want joy, give joy; if you seek love, offer love; if you want help, lend your support. You automatically get what you are looking for.

Be selfless while helping: You have never really lived your life until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

Never undermine what you can do: You can’t solve the world’s problem, no one can; but helping is even when it feels like a drop of water in the ocean.

Don’t fake support: Fake people are nice only when it is convenient for them. Make time to support others even if you are struggling with your own challenges. We rise by lifting others:

Don’t wait for a great opportunity to help others; pick the small ones that surround you every day.