Live with Integrity
​Living with integrity means consistently aligning your actions, behaviors, and decisions with your core values and principles, regardless of external pressures or temptations. Engage with us to know more about what we do.
Maintain Integrity for a Calm Mind
There was a boy who had a great collection of marbles and girl had collection of sweets. Each looked at what the other had and was envious. So they agreed on an exchange: the boy to give the girl his marbles, and the girl to give her sweets.
The boy kept the biggest and the particularly attractive marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.
That night, the girl went off to a pleasant sleep. But the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.
Integrity is one the most salient element in every single relationship you have in your life. Integrity is a way of life, not just a behavior.
Don’t allow yourself to hold any of your marbles back from another person. If you are experiencing any doubt, is there only because you know that deep down inside yourself, you have never truly given that person all of WHO YOU ARE.!
MORAL OF THE STORY
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Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully.
True Nature
In ancient China, the emperor was growing old but did not have a successor. He wanted to choose one of the many children in his kingdom so that he could start training them to take the throne when he passed away. So, he sent out an announcement to all the families to send their most capable child to the palace. On the morning he specified on the invitation, the palace walls contained over a thousand children and their parents, eager to earn the favor of the emperor. He came in front of them and spoke loudly and clearly:
“I will now give each of you a single seed. It is your job to take care of the seed as though your life depends upon it. Come back to the palace precisely 8 months from now, and the one with the best and most beautiful plant, as judged by myself, will become the successor to the throne.”
The children eagerly lined up and received a single seed from the emperor, all of varying sizes, shapes and even colors. The last in line was one little boy, who clutched the precious seed in his fist and ran all the way home to bury it deep in a pot with soft soil.
As the months went on, each child carefully watered their seeds and watched them grow. Saplings sprouted leaves, flowers, and even branches. Some grew even taller than the child it belonged to- but the little boy, try as he might, could not get his seed to sprout. He changed the soil, added all kinds of fertilizers, even tried watering it with milk instead. But all to no avail. When the 8 month mark came, he was the only one in line with a barren pot, and no plant at all.
When the emperor finally came to him, he looked down in shame. “I couldn’t sprout the seed,” he whispered. But the emperor only smiled thinly and moved on.
When all the plants had been inspected, the emperor stood in front of the crowd and spread his arms. “I have a confession to make,” he said. “The seeds I gave all of you were actually burnt, and covered up to make them look healthy. They were not meant to grow at all.”
While all the other children gasped in shock, the emperor smiled at the little boy. “Because you were the only one who did not buy a plant instead of following my instructions exactly,” he said, “you are the only one with enough integrity to succeed my throne.”
MORAL OF THE STORY
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Maintain integrity and only good things will happen to you
​The Honest Boy and the Gold Coin
Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived a kind-hearted boy named Raju. Raju was known throughout the village for his honesty and simplicity. He came from a humble family and worked hard every day to help his parents. Despite their poverty, Raju and his family were content and always believed in living a life of virtue.
One day, while walking through the market on his way to school, Raju noticed something shiny lying on the ground. He bent down to pick it up and realized it was a gold coin. The coin glimmered in the sunlight, and Raju’s eyes widened in surprise. He had never held anything so valuable in his life.
For a moment, he thought about how the gold coin could help his family. They could buy food, clothes, and even pay off their debts. But then, his honesty and sense of right and wrong took over. Raju thought, "This coin does not belong to me. Someone must have dropped it, and they may be in great distress over losing something so valuable."
The Search for the Owner
Determined to find the rightful owner, Raju went from stall to stall in the market, asking if anyone had lost a gold coin. Most of the shopkeepers and villagers were amazed at Raju’s honesty. They told him that no one else would bother returning such a valuable item.
“Why don’t you keep it, Raju?” one shopkeeper suggested. “You found it, so it’s yours now.”
But Raju shook his head and replied, “It’s not mine. I cannot keep something that doesn’t belong to me. Someone else must be looking for it.”
Despite his efforts, no one in the market claimed to have lost the coin. Raju decided to go to the village headman, an elder known for his wisdom and fairness, and seek his advice.
The Test of Honesty
The headman was impressed by Raju’s honesty and commended him for his decision to return the coin. He asked the boy to make an announcement in the village square, so anyone who had lost the coin could come forward to claim it. Raju did as instructed, calling out loudly, “If anyone has lost a gold coin, please come to the village headman’s house to claim it.”
As the villagers gathered, the headman devised a clever plan to test the honesty of anyone who came forward to claim the coin. He announced, “Whoever claims this gold coin must describe it in detail, including its design and markings. Only then will we return it to them.”
A few villagers came forward, but none could accurately describe the coin. One man tried to claim it by lying, saying he had lost a coin earlier that day, but when asked for details, he stumbled and admitted he had no proof. The headman dismissed them all.
The Rightful Owner
Finally, a poor farmer arrived and humbly approached the headman. “Sir,” he said, “I believe the gold coin may be mine. I was carrying a gold coin to the market this morning to buy seeds, but it must have fallen from my pocket.”
The headman asked the farmer to describe the coin. The farmer accurately described its design, size, and the markings engraved on it. It was clear that he was the rightful owner.
Raju handed the coin to the farmer with a big smile, feeling happy that it was back with its true owner. The farmer, overcome with gratitude, thanked Raju profusely. “You are an honest boy,” the farmer said. “You could have kept this coin, but you chose to do the right thing.”
The Reward for Honesty
The farmer wanted to reward Raju for his honesty and insisted on giving him some money in return. But Raju politely declined, saying, “I was only doing what is right. I don’t need a reward for honesty.”
The headman, however, was deeply moved by Raju’s integrity and sense of responsibility. He decided to honor the boy in front of the entire village. At the village gathering, the headman said, “Raju has taught us all a valuable lesson today: honesty is the greatest virtue. We should all strive to be as truthful and righteous as this young boy.”
He then gifted Raju a small parcel of land near the river and declared, “This is not just a reward but a recognition of your values. May you and your family prosper.”
MORAL OF THE STORY
​Doing what is right, even when no one is watching, brings inner peace and respect from others.
Buddha's wisdom
Once Gautam Buddha’s aunt came to him with her dead baby and asked him to revive the child. Buddha told her he would do so but that she needed to get him a vital ingredient for the resurrection: salt from a house which had never seen a death.
The woman ran door-to-door the whole day but didn’t find such a house. At dusk she fell at the Buddha’s feet and said she understands. She isn’t the only one to have suffered the loss of a loved one.
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MORAL OF THE STORY
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Stop feeling victimised. Everyone goes through pain.