***Sandalwood and Coal*** A splendid short story shared from the newsletter of Rakhee Chhabria's TeachersHelpTeachers.

A splendid short story shared from the newsletter of Rakhee Chhabria's TeachersHelpTeachers. Happy Teachers Day in advance to all the motivated and tireless #teachers in my network

***Sandalwood and Coal***

The king once went hunting and got so engrossed that he went far ahead into the forest. He was very thirsty and while looking for water, he chanced upon a woodcutter making charcoal from wood. The king went to him and asked for water. He had just one glass of water and he happily gave it to the king.

The king was extremely pleased with the woodcutter because he provided him with water when he badly needed it. He said to the woodcutter, "O' kind man! You can come to my palace anytime and I will give you a reward." The woodcutter gladly accepted the invitation.

Quite some time after this incident, the woodcutter finally reached the palace one day and introduced himself to the king - "I am the same woodcutter who shared water with you when you needed it in the forest."

The king hosted him with great pleasure, and started thinking - "what can I do to help this poor man?" Finally, after much deliberation, he handed over a huge sandalwood garden to him.

The woodcutter was very happy as this would help him make enough money for himself, and his life would become easier.

And so, the woodcutter started making good money out of it.

One day the king thought of visiting the woodcutter, check on his condition, and also have a tour of the garden. With this idea, the king started towards the sandalwood garden.

From a distance, the king saw smoke rising from the garden. On coming closer, he found that sandalwood was burning and the woodcutter was standing nearby.

The wood cutter saw the king approaching and proceeded to welcome him. As soon as the king reached there, he asked - "Oh good man!?What have you done!?"

The woodcutter said - "By your grace, all this time was spent very comfortably. You have done me a great favour by giving me this garden. I have been selling coal made from these trees of the garden. Now only a few trees are left. If by your grace, I get another garden, the rest of my life will also be spent?comfortably."

The King saw that within a short time, the beautiful sandalwood garden had become a deserted one, with heaps of coal everywhere. Now only a few trees were left in the garden, which were serving the purpose of providing shade to the woodcutter.

The king was very disappointed but he said to the woodcutter - "Well, I will wait here. Go to the market and sell this wood, not the coal." The woodcutter picked up about two meters of wood and took it to the market.

The people in the market were amazed to see the fine quality of sandalwood and finally, the woodcutter got three hundred rupees for it. This was many times more than what he used to get from selling tons of coal.

The woodcutter came to the king weeping bitterly, and confessed his stupidity. He deeply regretted how he had lost such a priceless thing just because of his ignorance. The king consoled him and encouraged him to start afresh.

In this story, the sandalwood garden represents our body, and the sandalwood trees represent our every breath. Is our life fragrant like sandalwood? Or are we also burning every moment of our lives in the fire of hatred, malice, and attachments, like the woodcutter was turning the sandalwood into coal due to his ignorance?

Taking care of ourselves must be a priority!? Here’s?Wishing you a Fit September and advance wishes for a Happy Teachers’ Day

Source: Rakhee Chhabria's newsletter