A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it every day. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, took a nap in its shade.... He loved the tree, and the tree loved to play with him.
Time went by. The little boy grew up, and he no longer played around the tree every day. One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sad look on his face.
"Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy.
"I am no longer a kid, I don’t play around trees anymore." The boy replied, "I want toys. I need money to buy them."
"Sorry, I don’t have money... but you can pick all my apples and sell them so you will have money."
The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy didn’t come back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.
One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited.
"Come and play with me," the tree said.
"I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family.
We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?"
"Sorry, I don’t have a house, but you can chop off my branches to build your house."
So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy, but the boy didn’t come back afterward. The tree was again lonely and sad.
One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted.
"Come and play with me," the tree said.
"I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?"
"Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy."
So the boy cut the tree truck to make a boat. He went sailing and didn’t come back for a long time.
Finally, the boy returned after he had been gone for many years. "Sorry, my boy. But I don’t have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you," the tree said.
"I don’t have teeth to bite," the boy replied.
"No more trunk for you to climb on."
"I am too old for that now" the boy said. "I really can’t give you anything... the only thing left is my dying roots," the tree said with sadness.
"I don’t need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years," the boy replied.
"Good! Old tree roots are the best thing to lean on and rest. Come sit down with me and rest."
The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.
This story is everyone´s.
The tree is God, of course.
What is the moral of the story ?
01) God can never be depleted.
02) He is never affected by our lack of care.
03) As we get more entangled in material life, we leave Him.
04) We come to Him only when we need something or when we are in trouble.
05) No matter what, Krishna will always be there for us to love us
and to help us – unconditionally !!!
06) It may seem as if the way the boy treats the "tree" in the story is cruel, but
many of us take God for granted in the same manner.
07) Never forget how important it is in your life to be grateful to Krishna for what
all He has been so mercifully giving us, not only now, but since time
immemorial and continue to give us eternally.
08) Keep on regularly expressing our deep gratitude to Him.
09) And keep on incessantly praying for His causeless mercy.
Source : ‘Tales of wisdom’, page No. 6 to 8, by Vaishnava Seva Kendra, Belgaum. Our gratitude to our dear Vishnu Lok Prabhu of Vaishnava Seva Kendra, Belgaum for making this story available to us.
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