Ashok Anchan

There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is in

Has this thought every crossed your mind? When everyone around me is having a great time taking the shortest route to instant success, why should I not do the same? Surely, a few shortcuts, a few bending of the rules won't do much harm. This thought has engaged me on many occasions. Why should one stick to one's dharma? There is, it seems, a sweet gift waiting at the end of a long, arduous wait especially when the time is spent following one's dharma. This is not just good for the individual, it also affects people around us in ways we cannot even imagine. It keeps the balance. Here's a story from ancient India to illustrate the importance of purity in thought and action. There was once a village by the banks of a river in which lived a few Brahmin families. The courtyard in each house had a yajnakund in which fire rituals were performed. One day, a Brahmin found a piece of gold in his yajnakund. He asked his wife as to how it got there. His wife told him: "When I