1. TOLERANCE

2. A sage had a holy bath in the river Ganges and got out of the river. Suddently a rowdy who was chewing beeda (betal leaves) spat on him. The sage did not scold him but bathed again in Ganges and came to the bank of the river. Again and again the rowdy spat on the sage and the sage with great tolerance had a holy dip in the river Ganges again and again without uttering even a single word against the rowdy. Because of the patience of the sage, the rowdy realized his own folly and felt ashamed of it. He fell flat at the feet of the Sage and begged pardon. But the Sage said “ I am to fall at your feet and honour you. In a single day is it possible to any one to bathe more than hundred times in the holy river? It was possible to me because of you. So I am bound to thank you “ .

3. The rowdy said, “ Swamiji, there is a millionaire in this city who is jealous over your fame and familiarity. He instigated me to do so. He expected that you would scold me and fight with me and your reputation would get spoiled. If it happens so, he assured to give me a lot of gold. As I was greedy I insulted you Swamiji. Please forgive me”. So saying the rowdy bowed before the sage. After listening to the statement of the rowdy, the sage said, “ Aha…. I was not aware of this fact earlier. If I had come to know about it before hand, I would have fought with you and you could have got gold from the millionaire”.

4. Do we need any other example more than this for tolerance and generosity? The root-cause for all the troubles and problems is the absence of tolerance. If there is tolerance, there will not be any problem on Religion, community, caste and creed. There will not be any problem in the office, at home or any where else. The most important quality to be possessed by all who wish to attain success in life is TOLERANCE. Tolerance is the inborn quality among most of the world famous great personalities. To cite examples, we can mention the name of Socrates who lived patiently with a wife who used to always abuse him and secondly Milton who lived with his cruel daughters who were always rough and tough with him. Socrates was an expert in exposing tolerance with a sense of humour.

5. Once Socrates was chatting with his friends in front of his house. His wife was scolding him with harsh words. Socrates continued to discuss with his friends without any botheration. His irritated wife poured on him a bucket of water from the upstairs. Socrates casually squeezed his wet dress and said to his friends, “ So far it was thundering, now it is raining ”. We need not search anywhere outside for the people who stand as examples for Tolerance. They are in each and everyone's family. Take yourself as an example. There may be a lot of defects among the people who are with you in the family. They may possess some qualities which you do not like. They may do many things which you dislike. Are you not tolerant to all such things? As you and your family members are tolerant, you live patiently. Because of that only you are enjoying a peaceful life.

6. On what basis you say that you are enjoying a peaceful life? Do you say that you have a lot of problems in your family and you live quarrelling daily? Then it means that you or your family members do not have tolerance. Develop the quality of tolerance among yourselves. If tolerance exists among all, life will be peaceful. If the husband, wife, brothers, sisters and in-laws have the sense of tolerance, the whole Family will be a peaceful one. All the problems depend upon the way in which we handle a word or incident. If problems are approached with tolerance, there will not be any problem at all. Since a very long time problems prevail in all the families. Due to the absence of tolerance, it seems that the Joint family system may come to an end very soon. A situation may arise in which the term JOINT FAMILY will get rid of the society in a short period of time.

7. Now a days a bad temperament spreads among all types of people of all age groups. The habit of not respecting others' thoughts and feelings, to be adamant to do anything as per one's own will and pleasure etc. exist every where. If there is tolerance among people, this type of evils will disappear. A Question may arise in the mind of some people, “ IS TOLERANCE ESSENTIAL?” This world is not created for us alone. All have got equal right to live in it. All have got equal right to live as per their will and pleasure without affecting others. Many matters and incidents which we do not like are taking place around us. We are to tolerate those matters and incidents as long as they do not affect us.

8. Just imagine what will happen if there is no sense of tolerance among people. If a person does not like the colour of your shirt, he may quarrel with you. If there is no tolerance, what will happen if a person talks against the opinion of another? It may lead to a quarrel or clash. The base for all the matters is tolerance. For example our ambition will be to listen the news or to watch a film show in the Television. At the same time the tiny tot of our home will be watching the cartoon channel. The kid will be very adamant and will not allow us to change the channel. At this situation, though we don't like the cartoon channel as there is no other go, we will tolerate the same. We too will join with the child and watch the cartoon channel. Similarly, in our office if our manager entrusts a work to us, though we dislike the work, we will complete it with great tolerance. The great philosopher Hendry Wandyke says "Estimate others on the basis of their best qualities, Don't estimate them on the basis of their bad qualities" .

9. Daily we come across a number of people. We cannot say that all will be with 100% good qualities. They will be with good qualities as well as some bad qualities. We should take their good qualities alone into account. We should make friendship with them not on the basis of their weakness, but on the basis of their strength. People with tolerance will ignore the weakness of others. They will recognize only the strength of others. All the people we come across are filled with good qualities as well as bad qualities. A person is estimated on the basis of the quality he exposes more in quantity. He is estimated by others "Good" if he exposes more good qualities and "Bad" if he exposes more bad qualities. There is no one who is 100% good or 100% bad. We come to a conclusion Whether a person is good or bad on the basis of our contact and experiences with him. Others estimate us in the same manner. So let us expose our good qualities as far as possible.

10. No country or race or religion or language is a barrier to Tolerance . Wise people will not like to derive a kind of pleasure by pointing out others' defects . Are we wise or not? The answer for this question is with us only.

11. Produced by Na.PRASANNAN , 94880-19015 , 99415-05431, [email_address] , See my slide share for Power points http://www.slideshare.net/nprasannam Courtesy: Dinamalar Computer Maler Translated by C.Chandrasekaran, M.A.,B.Ed., Retd HM, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Trichy 16