If Not Higher

                                                                                                        I.L.Peretz, Poland (1852-1915)
Summary in English

"If Not Higher" is a moral story that tells us about the true way to go to heaven. In addition, it focuses on the social service where work is taken as worship. Doing good deeds on earth may be more exalted activity than doing God's will in heaven. God loves him/her who loves others.
The main character of the story is Rabbi. He disappears every Friday morning at the time of penitential prayers. People from the Jewish community believe that Rabbi usually goes to heaven on Friday. However, one day, Litvak, a critical thinker, comes at Nemirov, Jewish community and tells people that he never believes on Rabbi's going to heaven. Rather he wants to search where he goes every Friday morning. Then, he comes to the room of Rabbi on Thursday evening without informing him. He remains a wake whole night. He looks at each and every activities of Rabbi on Friday morning, for example; his earlier getting up and praying for an hour for the progress, peace and happiness of all common people.
Rabbi, then, wears the clothes of peasant. He takes rope and axe and goes to the forest. He cuts down firewood and comes back beside a broken hut. There he helps a poor old sick woman by making fire himself. During the fire, he recites three courses of the penitential prayers. Observing such activities of Rabbi, Litvak is greatly impresses. Finally, Litvak becomes a true disciple of Rabbi believing that Rabbi really goes to heaven, If Not Higher.
As Litvak follows Rabbi and comes to know Rabbi's real worshipping which is not to God but to the human beings with the things they needed. This story represents true worship to God is by serving the poor creature. God lives in human heart. In the story, Rabbi's service has been admired by the skeptic Litvak and finally becomes his disciple looking at social service and humanity.

Ahab and Naboth

                                                                           (Source: The Holy Bible: King James, Version -2000)
Summary in English

"Ahab and Naboth" is a story adopted from the bible. This story is based on the Israel context. It represent the authority or cruelty of the past kings in the one hand, it provides us moral lesson that God is everywhere who gives us the ultimate justice and truth in another hand.
We can find two major characters in the story. They are Ahab as the king of Israel and Naboth, common citizen who has a vineyard near the palace of the king. King Ahab is jealous and greedy.
One day Ahab calls Naboth to sell his vineyard for money. But Naboth denies it and replies that God has forbidden him to give the inheritance of his father as well as ancestor. Listen such, the king Ahab becomes angry and goes directly to his palace with heavy heart. He doesn't eat bread, rather goes to bed for sleep earlier. Looking at the changing manner of the king, the queen Jezebel tries to find out the basic cause of sadness of King Ahab. She requests several time to the king to eat bread without any tension. She promises king that she is going to provide him the vineyard of Naboth.
The queen herself arranges and writes the letters in the king's name and sends them to the nobles of city where Naboth lives. When they receive and read the letter, then, they blame and charge Naboth going against the king and God. Naboth is proved to be guilty for disobeying God and the king. Then, he is thrown out from the city and killed with stone.
When the king hears the death of Naboth, then he becomes happy. Immediately he goes to posses the vineyard of Naboth. At the same time, the messenger of God, Elijah comes with the serious warning of the God to king. He tells that king Ahab has killed Naboth in the place where the dogs licked his blood. Similarly, if the king captures the vineyard of Naboth, the same dogs will lick the blood of King Ahab. Finally, King Ahab realizes that God has already known his crime, so, he will also be punished by the God due to his misusing power and committing such serious crime.

The Brave Little Parrot

                                                                                                       (Source: Buddhist Legend)
                                                                                                       Rafe Martin, USA (1946 - )
Summary in English

"The Brave Little Parrot" is a famous story by Rafe Martin. This story is based on the Buddhist Legend. It is not only mythological but also a moral story. This story tells us that selfless social service bravery and benevolence is the key to meaningful life. Furthermore, it encourages us that if we continue our tireless effort, of course, we can be successful in coming days.
The Buddha was born as a little parrot. That little parrot used to live in a dense forest. One day, a storm fell down upon the forest; as a result, lighting flashes and spark caught the tree. All the wild animals are in danger because of the wide spread of the fire in the forest. Out of them, a little parrot flies with the help of wings in order to save his life.
When the little parrot flies to save his life, he looks at the terrible scene where hundreds of animals are trapped by the fire and are going to die. It is because they could not fly like birds. The little parrot thinks to save them from such danger. For that, he uses his creative mind. He flies to the river, plunges into river, comes out and shocks his body and releases some drops of water. However, fire could not be controlled by the few drops of water. Anyway, the little parrot could not stop his work for helping other animals. In fact, Gods become very happy looking at courage, service and love of the little parrot to other animals.
One God in the form of golden eagle comes to the earth and stands near to the parrot. He also advises the little parrot to save his life and leave his effort because his task is hopeless. But the little parrot continues and replies that he needs proper advice and help in such situation. The God feels ashamed. He begins to weep and appreciates at work of the little parrot. He even promises to help him. Then, the stream of tears pours from his eyes so that flames die and smoke begins to clear. At last, with bless of god, everything in the forest changes. All animals of the forest get a new life, peace and happiness out of such dangerness, suffering and pain.

Yudhisthira's Wisdom

                                                                                                                         Ancient Tales
                                                                                                                 (Source: The Mahabharata) 
                                                                                                               Shanta Rameshwar Rao. India
Summary in English

This story has been taken from the popular Hindi mythology "The Mahabharata". It is moral story that teaches us about the importance of wisdom, justice, morality, patience, courage and good conduct of life.
One day, Yudhisthira with his four brothers (Pandavs) starts hunting a deer in a forest. Meanwhile, they feel tired and thirsty. Therefore, Yudhisthira sends his brothers to search water. However, they never return back. It makes Yudhisthira feel so sad and goes for searching his brothers. As he starts walking, he finds a beautiful pool with fresh and cool water. He hears the voice calling him to answer before drinking water. The voice is a warning not to drink the water before answering the question. In fact, the voice is by Yaksha.
Yudhisthira obeys Yaksha before satisfying his thirst. Similarly, he correctly answers Yaksha's philosophical questions. Yaksha is pleased with Yudhisthira's wisdom. He appears in the form of Yama and tells Yudhisthira to choose one of the brothers whom he wants to save. Because except him, all brothers already drank the water disobeying the warning of the voice I.e. the voice of Yaksha and they fell on the ground one by one and became unconscious because of the curses of the voice.
Yudhisthira bases his choice entirely on the moral considerations, not on his own selfish needs and soon. Without selfishness, he asks his brother Nakula, only one son from his step mother to be saved. Yaksha is so happy with his wisdom. He even tells him that he restores all his brothers. In addition, Yaksha promises him to protection them from future hardships, and gives him some useful device on where to go next. Therefore, this story highlights the importance of wisdom, patience, courage, trustfulness, justice and morality to make successful life solving the every riddles of our life.

A Tale

                                                                                 Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Nepal (1914 - 1982)
Summary in English

 'A Tale' by B. P. Koirala is an ancient story. It talks about the relationship between god and man in the very past. The sage wants to break social norms and values in the one hand; he wants to achieve godhood and happiness in another hand. Therefore, he selects jungle to live leaving the human society. Among men, he feels the path to godhood is blocked by social obligation and by the love of family and friends. So, to win supreme knowledge and godhood, he goes to dwell alone in the remote jungle.

As the sage arrives in the remote jungle, he feels thirsty. Then, he goes to near stream and drinks the water. He gets involved into tough and deep penance. The interesting thing is that time passes, seasons change, the leaves of the tree become new, birds make nests on his beard, grasses under him get destroyed and again become taller than him, however, the sage never stops his penance.

Because of his dedicate and struggleful penance, he gets victory over his body. It makes Indra to break the penance. For that, Indra sends the most beautiful nymph (a beautiful girl) from the heaven.

As the nymph arrives in front of the sage from the heaven, she starts dancing in half-naked condition. When the sage looks at nymph and her dancing, he opens his eyes and deeply falls in love with her. He becomes such emotional that he could not control his sexual desire with her. It makes him forgetting to achieve godhood or doing penance, rather than decides to get marriage with her.

When the sage and nymph both fall in love, then, they get marriage. They decide to leave remote jungle and go to live in the human society. Looking at such, king becomes happy and appreciates the sage. As they settle in the village, they have got children (two sons) and become family. They start helping their neighbors. In fact, they live with happiness and peace in the society. From all these, the sage comes to realize and experience the greater ecstasy (happiness and pleasure) than his penance from the remote jungle.

A Painful Case

                                                                                                            James Joyce, Ireland (1882-1914)
Summary in English

"A Painful Case" is the most popular story by James Joyce. This story reflects that life would be barren without love. According to writer, love is the foundation of progressive life. Life without love always remains dark and meaningless.
The central characters of the story are Mr. James Duffy and Mrs. Sinico. Mr. James Duffy lives in Chapelizod, far away from his home place, Dublin. He lives his solitary life. He has the desire of reading a number of books and intellectual exercises. Though he is aloof, he is far away from any physical and mental disorder. He works in private bank. Most of his time he spends his life lonely. Similarly, he is far away from any romance, love or women. Therefore, he has neither companions nor friends. He performs two social duties in his life i.e. visiting his relatives at the time of Christmas and accompanying them to the cemetery when they die.
Similarly, another major character of the story is Mrs. Sinico. Mrs. Sinico lives in a cottage in the outskirt of Dublin. Her husband is a captain in the sea. He is indifferent to his wife. So, Mrs. Sinico has been living lonely, miserable and boring life.
One day Mr. Duffy looks at two ladies sitting where he knows that Mrs. Sinico is the wife of captain. Mrs. Sinico is about a year younger than him. Mrs. Sinico frequently meets him after then. As a result, they become intimate friends and fall in love each other. They feel happiness in their lonely stay covered by their mutual love. They go for dating and share love that makes them too much friendly. They share their private life.
One evening Mrs. Sinico feels emotional with Mr. Duffy. She catches his hands on her cheeks. But Mr. Duffy becomes angry and breaks his relationship with her. In fact, he does not understand the importance of love and how lonely her life is. Rather he returns back those gifts to Mrs. Sinico. As a result, Mrs. Sinico starts drinking. There is a gap communication between them for years. Unfortunately, one day Mr. Duffy reads the message about the death of Mrs. Sinico in a rail road accident. Then, he realizes that he is responsible on her death. He finds nothing than regretting and hating his attitude. He becomes so sad and feels alone with full of pain and suffering caused by his lonely life without understanding the value of life.
 

A 1996 Commencement Speech

                                                                                                          Salman Rushdie, India (1947 - )
Summary in English 

Salman Rushdie as Indian writer shares his bitter experience with his students at the Bard College, USA on the occasion of the Commencement Speech on the Graduation Day. He was invited to Bard University for 1996 Commencement Speech; Rushdie addresses the members of the class of 1996. He criticizes himself and the Cambridge University and shares his bitter experience of his own Graduation Day of 1968 with his students and also regrets for compromising with falsehood and injustice in the past.
Rushdie graduated from Cambridge University in 1996, the year of great student protest. He was connected with the protest although he did not take part in the protest himself. Just a few days before the Graduation Day, some of his friends hurled a bucketful of thick brown gravy and onion sauce all over the walls, furniture, clothes and recorder in the absence of Rushdie. Then, Rushdie was accused of such working and declared to be disqualified for the degree. It means unless he submitted the report of the incident, he was not declared eligible for his degree. So, he says although Cambridge University prides itself for the tradition of fairness and justice, it solely accused him of the mischief and made him pay up.
On the Commencement Day, Rushdie went to the ceremony with defiant spirit in brown shoes which were not allowed. He was immediately held and sent back to change his shoes. He changed his shoes and returned few minutes later. Rushdie decided to surrender in front of injustice. He paid up for the damage compromised with injustice. He bowed his head to the feet of Vice- Chancellor. There was no other option for him. He followed and did whatever they told him because the degree he was going to receive was the product of three extremely hard years. He accepted the slavery and autocratic system. Finally, he achieved his B.A. Degree from Cambridge University.
In 1996, Rushdie as a Commencement Speaker addresses the graduated students and shares all his experiences with the students. He tells them not to accommodate with injustice and not to bow down their head to have their own rights. He suggests that they should not tolerate if people accuse them of abusing gravy when they are innocent. He requests them to stand up and fight for their rights and justice.
We have nothing good to learn from Gods. It is men and women who made the world. They have made it in spite of their gods. Human beings have best expressed their humanity by defying the gods. The gods are weakened by their show of strength where as can be joyous, creative, competitive and loving too. Finally, Rushdie suggests us that we human beings must not bow our heads; rather we must ignore the gods.