A collection of best short stories with varied interests will be published on this blog from classic stories to modern. Stories would be Inspirational, spiritual, full with wisdom, famous, fiction, funny or humorous to stories for children, adult, fiction, non fiction, bible stories,social stories, follkore . So feel free to find a story to read online be your mood happy or sad. Navigate through the list of labels like Zen and Sufi.
There was little boy who thought that friends are meant for each other. There was nothing mine and yours in friendship. Whatever they had was theirs ,and not mine and yours.
As he grew up, he was shocked to realize that was not true. The shock was an inner one as it did not appear in his outer characteristics. He had started to accept the fact that most people made friends so that they can share and talk ideas when there were less important things to do. First my security and power, thereafter the thing called friendship, seemingly prevailed widely.
This led him to the question of adopting to this widely accepted way of life, or to carry on with the inner feeling he had. The first one seemed more comfortable as it fitted with what most were doing. The other had it's own dangers and insecurities.
He decided for the later one, regardless of it's dangers and insecurities. Despite the difficulties he had to face for this selfless thinking, the feeling grew from friends to human beings and living beings. All the difficulties only made his soul stronger and he could feel and invisible force coming in forms of stories, words, incidents. The invisible force than could be felt subtly and in various forms a mind can conceive.
He knew that he had something which is sadly with so less people in the world. At the same time his presence was bringing about a change in people around.
An inspiring story based on the Wright Brothers. Armed with nothing more than a high school education, they rose above all obstacles and achieved the impossible.
Be inspired by this lesson about attaining success even if the odds are against you!
If you loved this video, also visit http://www.inspirationjunction.com for more inspirational Flash movies and downloadable screensavers. Send them to your friends or loved ones (could be your spouse or just that special someone whom you really care for) and brighten their day :-)
They wouldn't know unless you put your caring thoughts into actions to touch their hearts.
Some positive and elevating comments from the you tube to tell more about the video
* Great message! I can see from your site you want to inspire people. You are doing it, I think. Thanks!
* Actually the Wright Brothers bought the engine that powered that first flight for $50 from Alexander Wilks Vaughan, the real inventor. I guess there are more ways than one to fulfill a dream. I just wish they had seen fit to give credit where credit was due. --Just setting the record straight!
* Excellent! Very good message... I do believe that if you believe in something from deep deep depths of your heart, it will become true.. no matter what! God surely helps such people.
* Sweet!
* Awesome that it is long journey, enjoyable though hard near impossible. First time, what next.
* i've visited your inspiration junction website and i love all inspiring movies there! very attractive designs and soothing music..made my day..thanks!
* Well done!
* nice pictures, great flash and good meaningful message
* SkyQuestCom, this is so cool.. I wish to have your totally awesome skills!!! :)
* hi:) 1st one!lovely..i've been searchin' the net for inspirational flash movies like this one..glad i found yours!i'm addin' it to my website..keep em' coming!!
I received a mail titled the art of giving with beautiful Short Stories. So decided to post these short Inspirational stories below.
The Art of Giving
"Rivers do not drink their own water, nor do trees eat their own fruit, nor do rain clouds eat the grains reared by them. Thewealth of the noble is used solely for the benefit of others?
Even after accepting that giving is good and that one must learn to give, several questions need to be answered.
#The first question is when should one give?
We all know the famous incident from Mahabharat. Yudhisthir, asks a beggar seeking alms to come the next day. On this, Bhim rejoices, that Yudhisthir, his brother, has conquered death! For he is sure that he will be around tomorrow to give. Yudhisthir gets the message.
One does not know really whether one will be there tomorrow to give!
The time to give therefore is now.
#The next question is 'how much to give?
One recalls the famous incident from history. Maharana Rana Pratap was reeling after defeat from the Moghals. He had lost his army, he had lost his wealth, and most important he had lost hope, his will to fight. At that time in his darkest hour, his erstwhile minister Bhamasha came seeking him and placed his entire fortune at the disposal of Rana Pratap. With this, Rana Pratap raised an army and lived to fight another day.
The answer to this question how much to give is "Give as much as you can!!
#The next question is what to give ?
It is not only money that can be given. It could be a flower or even a smile.
It is not how much one gives but how one gives that really matters. When you give a smile to a stranger, that may be the only good thing received by him in days and weeks!
"You can give anything but you must give it with your heart!!
One also needs answer to this question whom to give?
Many times we avoid giving by finding fault with the person who is seeking. However, being judgemental and rejecting a person on the presumption that he may not be the most deserving is not justified. "Give without being judgemental!!
Next we have to answer 'How to give?
Coming to the manner of giving, one has to ensure that the receiver does not feel humiliated, nor the giver feels proud by giving. In giving follow the Holy Bible, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand gives? Charity without publicity and fanfare, is the highest form of charity.
'Give quietly'!!
While giving let not the recipient feel small or humiliated. After all what we give never really belonged to us. We come to this world with nothing and will go with nothing. The thing gifted was only with us for a temporary period. Why then take pride in giving away something which really did not belong to us? Give with grace and with a feeling of gratitude.
What should one feel after giving?
We all know the story of Eklavya. When Dronacharya asked him for his right thumb as "Guru Dakshina? he unhesitatingly cut off the thumb and gave it to Dronacharya. There is a little known sequel to this story. Eklavya was asked whether he ever regretted the act of giving away his thumb. He replied, and the reply has to be believed to be true, as it was asked to him when he was dying.
His reply was "Yes ! I regretted this only once in my life. It was when Pandavas were coming in to kill Dronacharya who was broken hearted on the false news of death of his son Ashwathama and had stopped fighting. It was then that I regretted the loss of my thumb. If the thumb was there, no one could have dared hurt my Guru?
The message to us is clear.
Give and never regret giving !
And the last question is 'how much should we provide for our heirs' ?
Ask yourself 'are we taking away from them the "gift of work? - a source of happiness! The answer is given by Warren Buffett:
"Leave your kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing!
I would conclude by saying: let us learn the Art of Giving, and quoting Sant Kabir:
"When the wealth in the house increases, when water fills a boat, Throw them out with both hands! This is the wise thing to do!
More inspirational short stories to read online on this blog
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of India, after India gained independence. Although his physical stature was small, he was the man of great courage, will, and integrity. Lalbahadur Shastri successfully lead India during the 1965 war against Pakistan.
Because of his great qualities he was and is a great inspiration.
The following story shows the integrity of the great man. Rarely to be seen in todays world.
While he was the Prime Minister of India his son approached him with great joy and enthusiasm. The son said, "Father today I have received and appointment letter from this big company and they are offering me huge salary."
Lal Bahadur Shastri had a close look at the appointment letter. There was a smile on his face and he said, "You have not received the appointment letter on your own merit." He continued, "Nobody would offer you such appointment with such handsome salary. The only reason for the letter is that you are the son of the Prime Minister of India."
Lalbahdur Shastri asked his son to deny the proposal as it would mean the acceptance of bribe from a huge company.
This story stands apart when in todays newspapers. news channels we frequently listen and read the stories of government officials small to big doing just the opposite.
Many of the followers use to meditate with Gautam Buddha. After each meditation Gautam Buddha used to tell his disciples, to emit the love and grace gathered through the meditations, to whole of humanity and all the living beings. To which one of the disciple once told the Buddha upon meeting him, that he could emit the love and compassion to all except one, who had harassed him much and given him much pain. To that the Buddha replied that know well that your meditation can only be called to be flowered when the love and compassion flows for this one individual also.
You might like to enjoy a wonderful video made on Buddha's Wisdom from youtube.
More inspirational short stories to read online on this blog
Once there was a king named Mallik. He was a very brave, kind and powerful king. He was loved by his subjects and also by his courtiers. One day a thought came to the mind of the King, "Am I really so great that there is no defect in me? How should I find it out?"
"Do my people praise me because they could not criticize me at my face? The truth can be known when one hears the true opinion of the people. This can happen only if I am not recognized. People will not afraid to give their true opinion." The King called his charioteer. He told him that he wanted to go on a tour, he would take only the charioteer with him.
The king, with his charioteer, traveled far and wide in his kingdom. Wherever he went, he asked the people what they felt about their King Mallik? Everywhere people, without knowing that they were talking to the king himself, praised King Mallik as great and noble king.
One day while he was traveling, his chariot came to a narrow bridge. Only one chariot could move over it at one time. Now, the usual practice of those days was that a lower ranking gave the way to a higher ranking man. Just when King Mallik's chariot reached one end of the bridge, another chariot came to the other end of the bridge which had to come this side.
Who was to cross first? The charioteer from this side said, "My friend, let me cross first. The great King Mallik is in my chariot." The other charioteer replied, "If your master is a great king, then my master, the great King Brahmadatta of Kashi is greater. It is you who will have to make way for him."
What was to be done? Then one of the kings suggested that since both of them were kings, their superiority could be decided on the basis of age and the size of their kingdoms. Most surprisingly, it turned out that both the kings were equal in age and the size of their kingdoms.
How to decide who was superior? Both the kings started thinking. After much thought King Brahmadatta said, "The greatness of a person is determined by his qualities. You tell me about your qualities to prove your greatness." King Mallik proudly spoke, "I reciprocate goodness with goodness and wrong with wrong." King Brahmadatta said, "If these are your qualities, you cannot be bigger defect in the world than this."
King Mallik was shocked, He said, "Maharaj Brahmadatta, what do you say? Well, then, come out with your qualities. King Brahmadatta said, "Listen, O King Mallik, I repay wrong with goodness. Those who harm me, I help even those persons."
When King Mallik heard these words, he bowed his head before Brahmadatta. He acknowledged with his whole heart that King Brahmadatta was indeed greater than he was. He still had many weaknesses which needed to be removed. Thus realization ultimately came to King Mallik that there were greater persons then he was. All his pride vanished.
The following story reveals something of the nature of this love, this real love that Meher Baba was talking
about. It concerns a king and a queen who lived and ruled some centuries ago. They loved each
other and were happy together. The king was a wise and just ruler, and under his reign his kingdom
flourished and peace and prosperity prevailed over the land. The King's subjects were happy and
content. In short, it was almost an idyllic existence, but there was one flaw, one minor thing which
prevented the queen from being completely happy. And this was that the king seemed to have no
interest in God. It was not that he was against God. He had no objection to his subjects or his wife
worshipping God as they saw fit, it was just that he never seemed to join in.
Because the king was such a good man, whose life seemed naturally full of virtue, it was not
immediately apparent that he was not a believer. But, as time passed, the queen noticed that the king
always seemed to make some excuse so as not to attend religious festivals. And while she
understood that the nature of his duties prevented him from worshipping as regularly as she did, she
realized after a while that not only had she never seen him perform worship, she had never even
heard him utter a short prayer. In fact, she had never heard him mention the Lord's name.
Now, the queen was very religious, and when she began to suspect that her husband, the king, was
not a lover of God, she became quite upset. She did her best to persuade him to join her in her
devotions, but no matter how hard she tried, he always found some excuse for not joining her. This
was the only thing that marred her happiness, but as time passed, it became a bigger and bigger
thing. She would think to herself, "My husband is such a good man, his kingdom is peaceful and
prosperous, his subjects are happy. Just think how perfect life would be if only he loved God." Or
sometimes she would fear that because her husband did not love God, the peace and prosperity
might be taken away, and the more she thought about it, the more upset she got.
She began to lose interest in her duties as queen. Uppermost in her mind was the thought that her
husband was not loving God as he should. Next to that, nothing else seemed important. She began
to spend more and more time by herself in the palace temple. Her eyes, which previously had always
twinkled with delight, now seemed pensive and brooding. Her constant cheerful smile was replace
with a frown. The king observed this and was sad, but whenever he asked the queen what was
wrong, she would say, "Nothing." For she had already told the king she would like it if he
worshipped regularly, and he had said, "Ask me for anything but that."
And so life went on, with the king attending to his duties, and the queen becoming more and more
despondent and withdrawn. Now it so happened that one day, after this had been going on for some
time, the king awoke and went to the ramparts of his palace. This was his usual custom. He would
rise early and climb up to the ramparts and look out over his kingdom. He used to feel that he could
ascertain the pulse of his kingdom from there. He had learned to tell, just from standing there in the
early morning hours, whether there was any unhappiness or sorrow in the kingdom that needed
attending to.
Well, this morning, as he looked out, he was surprised to see that many people were already awake
and were busy putting up decorations. Others were cleaning the streets or their homes, and it was
clear that some sort of major celebration was about to take place. This puzzled the king. He couldn't
think of any festival or celebration which took place at that time of year. He called his prime minister
and asked him what was happening.
"It is the queen's order, sire," the prime minister replied.
"The queen's order?"
"Yes, sire. Early this morning she got up and ordered that today was to be a day of rejoicing. She
instructed that orders were to be given to all your subjects that today was a day of celebration."
"Why did she do that?"
"I don't know, sire. She didn't say."
The king was puzzled at this. Of course it was in the queen's power to pass such an order, but as she
had taken no interest in the affairs of the kingdom for some time, this was a complete mystery to the
king. Why had she suddenly given such an order? He went to see the queen, who greeted him in her
best clothes and with a dazzling smile on her face.
"Did you order this celebration?" the king asked.
"Yes," the queen admitted.
"Why? What is it? What has happened that has made you so happy all of a sudden?"
"Oh my king," the queen exclaimed, "I am so happy. At last what I have been praying for all these
years has come true. Last night, while you were sleeping, you turned over and I heard you utter the
name of God. That is why I have ordered this celebration."
"What!" exclaimed the king, "has my Beloved escaped from my heart and passed through my lips!"
And with that the king sighed and dropped dead.
The above story always brings tears to my eyes whenever i read it.
You might also like to watch a wonderful video made from 'How to love God' by Meher Baba on youtube.
More inspirational short stories to read online on this blog
There was a learned man who, for several years, longed to be shown the way to God. Everyday, he sat apart from men and prayed that he might be brought into contact with a Sage, a Saint, and a Know-er of Truth.
One day, as he sat in prayer, he heard a Voice say, “Go to such and such a place, and you will meet the man who will show you the way to blessedness and bliss!”
Great was his joy when he heard the words. Forthwith he went to the place indicated by the Voice. He was surprised to find a man, humble, simple, poor, with tattered cloths on his body, his feet soiled with mud. The learned man looked all around him, but found no other man seated there. So, to this man, he said, “Good morning to you!”
Quietly, answered the poor man, “I have never had a bad morning!”
“God give you good luck!” said the learned man.
“I have never had ill-luck!” answered the poor man.
The learned man’s astonishment grew. “May you be happy!” he said to the poor man.
To which the poor man answered, “I have never been unhappy!”
“I am unable to understand,” said the learned man, “Pray explain it all to me.”
“Gladly,” said the poor man. “You wished me a good morning. I have never had a bad morning. For, if I do not get food to eat, I praise God. If it rains or snows, or if the weather is foul, I still praise God. If I am despised and have no human company, I praise God! So I have never had a bad morning, never an evil day.
“You wished me good luck: but I have never had ill-luck. For I always dwell at the Lotus Feet of the Lord: and I know that whatever God sends to me is the very best that can ever happen to me. I cheerfully accept everything that comes to me – health or sickness, prosperity or adversity, joy or sorrow – as a gift from God. I have never had ill-luck.
“You wished me happiness. I have never been unhappy. For the deepest longing of my heart is to live in union with God’s Will, and I have so entirely yielded my will to the Will of God, that what God wills, I will!”
Astonished, the learned man asked, “What if God’s Will should cast you into hell?”
“Cast me into hell!” exclaimed the poor man. “God too loves to do that. But even if He sends me to hell, I should have two arms with which to embrace Him. One is the arm of humility, the other of love. With them I should so embrace Him that He would have to go to hell with me. I would rather be in hell and be with God, than be in heaven and remain away from God!”
The poor man taught that in self-surrender, in utter humility, is the simplest, surest, nearest way to God.
When asked who he was, he answered, “I am a king!”
He was the very picture of destitution: and yet he felt he was a king! For he had learnt to walk the way of acceptance. He accepted all that came his way and rejoiced in all that happened. He expected nothing: he hoped for nothing: he needed nothing: he lacked nothing. Was he not the richest of men on earth?
This is a story of a little known, gentle, mystic figure, Durgacharan Naag was his name. Popularly known as Naag Mahashaya, he came under the influence of the great saint of modern India, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who so blessed him that he became a blessing to many!
Naag Mahashaya became the very picture of humility and selflessness, of self denial and self-abnegation. He wanted nothing for himself. He was poor in the wealth of the world, but never did any beggar return from his door empty handed.
One day, Naag Mahashaya had only a few grains of rice left. He had not eaten the whole day and he was getting ready to cook those few grains of rice, when a man came to his door for begging, “I have not had a morsel of food for the last two days, won’t you give me something to eat?”
Naag Mahashaya forgot that he was hungry, that he had starved the whole day.
He did not say to himself, “Let me share this rice with poor man. Let me give him half, and keep the half for myself.”
Instead, in his benevolence, he gave away all he had, for in that beggar he beheld a living, moving image of his God—the God whom he worshipped in the shrine of the heart within. He parted with all that he had and rejoicing as he sang, “Not mine but Thine be the glory, O Lord! Blessed be Thy name!”
You might also like to enjoy a nice video called Sri Ramakrishna's life from yotube videos.
