Once a king asked his Raj guru in an arrogant tone `What should a king be doing``
The Raj Guru asked the king, `Do you really want to learn``
The King replied curtly `Yes, I really want to learn.`
The Raj Guru said `If you really want to learn, you have to become the student, and the student can never be sitting higher than the teacher, so please get off your throne, and sit on the ground, while I will sit on the throne.`
The King complied, and sat on the ground, while the Raj Guru took his place on the throne.
The Raj Guru kept silent, till he was prompted by the King to teach him what a king should be doing.
The Raj Guru finally spoke `The King`s duty is to correct those who are arrogant in the Kingdom, and uplift those who are humble and meek.`
The King, realized his mistake, bowed to the Raj Guru and asked for forgiveness and thanked him profusely for keeping him in check.
Humility prevents humiliation, people who remain humble keep learning. Arrogance is the biggest road block to learning.
Many of us are becoming successful, and with success comes a sense of pride, which if not checked turns into arrogance. It is very important for all of us to find wise people who can keep us in check while we are becoming successful.
Now-a-days people, who are successful, instead of having wise people, surround themselves, with sycophants and yes men. The sycophants and the yes men are too shallow and add fuel to the fire of pride, making the successful person arrogant. It is very sad that many successful persons embark on the path of self destruction because they fail to surround themselves with wise friends who can keep them grounded.
It is said that Salman Khan changed his set of friends, befriending wise people, which lead to his turnaround, because of which he is seeing the good times again. It is very important to audit one`s friends from time to time to ensure that we have sensible friends, who will ensure that we remain sensitive to what is right and what is wrong.
Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys has lived a great life, building a great company without falling into temptations of wrong doings, and for that I strongly feel that his very wise friend and wife Sudha Murthy has played a great role. Similarly Sachin Tendulkar has had an amazing career, he has remained sensible, in-spite of phenomenal success, and I again attribute his sustained success to his wife, who is a Doctor and a much grounded person, keeping him in check.
Please always respect and express your gratitude to the wise friends you have, for they will ensure that you remain humble, the more humble you remain, the more you will learn, and the more you will learn, the more you will earn.
Wise friends will ensure that more than a life full of enjoyment, you will live a life full of joy.