Short Inspirational and motivational stories about life – The Saint and the Scorpion (Story # 20)

In the series of our “short Inspirational and motivational stories about life”, today I am going to present you a story – The Saint and the Scorpion . This Story is one of my favorite as its communicate a very strong message of being yourself. So, without wasting much of time between you and the short motivational story, coming right to the Story part first.

Short Inspirational and motivational stories about life – The Saint and the Scorpion (Story # 20)

Once upon a time, there was a wandering ascetic monk on his way in the range of Himalayas. One beautiful morning on  a sunny day, he came across a shallow river, which he had to cross to move further. The moment, he was about to enter his feet in the river, he mindfully noticed a scorpion helplessly treading the water and struggling to come out of the river. It was almost touching the bank but not enough to gain hold of the ground. The sage knew that the Scorpions can’t swim and if he didn’t save the scorpion, it would drown… The saint decided to save it.

Therefore, the saint carefully picked up the struggling scorpion in his left palm with the intention to place it on the nearby dry land. When the monk was just about to set it down gently on dry land; all of sudden the scorpion stung his finger and rushed off the palm in rage, landing in the water again. It resumed its struggle to come out of water. The sage caressed his ailing left hand with his right. His body was in extreme pain but his mind was calm and composed.

Bearing in mind; that the scorpion could lose its life, this time the sage used right hand to lift the scorpion out of river water. However, the scorpion panicked and stung again. Once again, it sped off the palm and fell in the river water resuming its struggle to come out. The monk was left with both his hands singe with unbearable pain.

Also Read: The Starfish Story (Story # 4)

But, Sage was not the one to give up. He tried to save the scorpion again. This time, he cupped his hands together and lifted the scorpion in one swift movement. Before scorpion could react, the monk safely dropped it on the dry land. The scorpion disappeared into the pebbles that lay near the bank. The sage felt ecstatic, for, he succeeded in carrying out his perseverance and saving the scorpions life. He thought it was worth the pain.

At a distance, oblivious to the sage, a man, surprised and shocked, had watched the whole episode. He swiftly approached the monk and said, “Pray, can I ask you a question please?”

“Yes, you may”, replied the monk.

The man said, “First of all, in my opinion, there was no need to save a scorpion. It’s good for nothing and does not do well to anybody. Secondly, if you tried to save him out of kindness or compassion, you could have tried simply once. I am quite surprised that even after it stung you so ungratefully, you persisted with your efforts to save him. Please tell me the reason, why? How come you did not just stomp on it after it stung you?”

Also Read: The Retiring Carpenter (Story # 16)

“Oh! That’s pretty simple, my dear child,” the sage replied gently rubbing his stung hands against each other. “This was a scorpion, a creature whose nature is to sting, to give pain, to panic and to harm other. It is known for not showing any signs of kindness or compassion. It is supposed to be weak. Whereas, I am a monk, who is supposed to spread unconditional love, kindness and compassion everywhere. I am supposed to be the strong one. With my values and principles, my philosophy and ethics, my lifestyle and practices, my elevated emotional and mental state, I am supposed to cleanse and transform the other individual. Am I right young man?”

The young man nodded in agreement.

The monk continued, “Well then, when a creature as small, weak and lowly as a scorpion does not change its basic nature, its traits and it’s reactions in the presence of a holy man. Should I, the one who is supposed to be a sage, let go off my virtuous conduct, my behavior in the presence of a scorpion? Am I now so helpless to allow a stingy creature to change me, shrug off my principles and virtues? Scorpion did what its basic nature is and I did what is my basic nature. It retained its behavior, and I, mine. My dharma is to help any creature of any kind – human or animal and that is what I did.”

The man prostrated at the feet of the saint and expressed his gratitude for the profound wisdom just saint shared with him.

Moral of the Short Motivational Story

While we interact with different people in day to day life, it’s normal to have disagreements, rather I must say, it’s pretty natural. You will come across different type people resembling from scorpions to saints, grateful to thankless, weak to strong, good to bad and so forth. If, they are able to change your behavior, provoke you, make to react, throw you off balance, they are much stronger than you. In difficult conditions or during conflict situations, if you keep your calm and retain your goodness, you will emerge as a winner.

You should never let your actions, thoughts and words to be affected by the negative behavior of others. The darkness in others heart should not be allowed to penetrate into the lightness of your heart. If you lower yourself down to their level, treating them the way they have treated you, this will invariably means they have won because you have become like them.

So that’s all from my side in this post. Over to you now, I and Invajy readers would love to hear your thoughts and learning from this motivating story – The Saint and the Scorpion. Please feel free to share them in comments section.

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