'THE 99 CLUB'

[Guest guest]

Dear TBP Devotees,

 

Love and Love alone ...

 

Here is a Chinna Katha received from one of my colleagues. I hope,

none of us is a member of this club.

 

Love and Love alone...

 

P. Gopi Krishna

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'THE 99 CLUB'

 

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious

lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.

 

One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily

while he worked. This fascinated the King: Why was he, the supreme

ruler of the land, unhappy and gloomy, while a servant had so much

joy in his heart?

 

The King asked the man, " Why are you so happy? "

 

He replied, " Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but, my

family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads

and food to fill ourselves. "

 

Later in the day, the King sought the advice of his most trusted

advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the

advisor declared, " Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not

been made part of The 99 Club. "

 

" The 99 Club? And, what exactly is that? " the King enquired.

 

The advisor replied, " Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club

is, place 99 gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's

doorstep. "

 

This was done. When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his

house. When he opened it, he let out a great shout of joy ... so

many gold coins! He began to count them. After several times, he

was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, " What

could have happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would

leave 99 coins! " He looked everywhere he could, but, that final

coin was not to be found. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he

was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and

complete his collection.

 

From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked,

grumbled a lot and scolded his family for not helping him make that

100th gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.

 

Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When

he sought his advisor's help, the advisor concluded, " Your

Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club. " He

continued, " The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have

enough to be happy, but, are never contented, because they are

always yearning and striving for that extra 1 to round it out to 100!

 

We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute

we are given something bigger and better, we want even more! We

lose our sleep and our happiness. We even hurt the people around

us. All these are as a price for our growing needs and desires.

That's what joining The 99 Club is all about. "

 

Note: Hopefully, we can avoid being members of that club!

gopi