Who else was in Race?

You might all have listened to Hare and Tortoise story, and some might have come across extensions of story. If not, I have added YouTube link of extension stories to my profile.

?I was curious to know, how come only Hare and Tortoise ran in this race and kept improvising. Why other animals did not participate in race? If they participated, what happened to result or precisely what we can learn from them.

?So, this happened recently in Jungle. All animals were having gala time and could roam around freely and cross highways freely because all humans were in Lockdown during Covid. Lion thought its right time to celebrate and inaugurate new place where all animals can play, and hangout, so date, venue was finalised, and Invitations were sent out to all. When hare and tortoise opened invitation, both got shocked to see Rat as Guest of honour for event. Both were expecting them to get that credit as they had mastered the race and were champions and celebrities.

?Both initially shared their frustration, anger, and emotional breakdowns with Lion. When lion talked about Rat’s Empire, Righteousness, and contributions to jungle, they got mentally and emotionally stable, Curiosity and eagerness took over anger within them and they decided to meet Rat and ask 2 questions – What did he do? & How did he do?

?Rat was leaving in royal and posh mansion with beautiful wife and kids. Many other animals were employees under him, he owned every known luxury items. Rat welcomed hare and tortoise in humble manner and made them comfortable to open up.

?Rat Responded to questions: Yes guys, I also started race with you, but after some time I got lost in forest. While finding my way back, met a Guruji who was meditating under a tree. When I asked his help to find correct path, he asked to me slowdown, relax, and sit down first. Then we had small conversation which completely changed my views on race and Life. Hare & Tortoise got curious and asked about conversation. Rat laughed and said, sure! and told this was his life changing moment.

?Guruji made me to breadth deeply and asked few questions, Who are you actually? Why are you in this Race? and What are you trying to achieve in end?

?For few moments I thought but couldn’t come up with any answer which felt right to my conscious. Guruji was constantly gazing my eyes and I could feel his vision is passing my body and he is able to read my mind clearly like how fish is visible in calm and clear lake. Suddenly, I got impatient thinking of race and opponents going ahead of me, Guruji figured this out and before I could speak, He told, “Just like others you don’t have time” and smiled. I was curious who others he was talking about. Guruji told, you will get all answers eventually, just close eyes, and think of these questions for a while.

?I tried hard and eventually gave up. Then Guruji smiled and told, it will take time, but for now why don’t you leave thought of winning and carve out your own path, make this problem of not knowing path as opportunity, just remember to Learn, Help, Enjoy the Journey and build memories rather than concentrating only on End Goal. I promised Guruji of fulfilling his wish and departed from there. I figured out that participation in race was not my personal choice, but it was under pressure or other’s choices.

?On my way, I dugged tunnels and found few rare seeds. Planted them over many places so that there are enough grains and fruits for all animals. Found some metal pieces, forged them, and used it to cover my tooth to dug easily and built few water streams. Met different species of animals and helped them in possible ways, fell in love, and got married. Overall, I Invented, Invested, Connected, Helped Society and Lived in Present. This helped me to build my Name, Empire and earned the respect of others or in short – “I was out of (Rat) Race”.

Hare and Tortoise Thanked Rat for sharing story and as usual took this as learning and started to look for Guruji in Jungle and are trying to find answers to same questions by introspecting and looking within rather than thinking out of box.

?PS: I am still finding answer to question:

“Who am I and Why I am here”