Long time ago, in a village far, very far away in the foothills of The Great Himalaya, there lived an old wise man. The man was famous for his wisdom. People not only from his village, but also from nearby village come to get wisdom and blessings from this great old man.

In the village, there were few young mind who were suspicious of his visionary wisdom, made a plan to prove wise old man wrong. Their plan was pretty simple. Their plan was to keep a alive butterfly in their fist and ask wise old man if the butterfly is alive or dead. The planned to kill the butterfly by crushing in their fist if old man says the butterfly is alive, or to leave the butterfly flying, if he says that butterfly is dead.

With their motive to prove old wise man wrong, they visited him when he was addressing gathering with his wisdom under the Peepal tree(Ficus religiosa or sacred fig). Young men stopped in between of his speech and asked if the butterfly in their fist is alive or dead. It doesn’t took time by old man to know their intention of young men. Wise old man not only gave answer but also astounded the audience with his wisdom.

Old man turned toward audience and told, “Our life is like this butterfly, it is in your hand to make it alive or make it dead. So what ever is the case, weather to make life happy or unhappy, it is your decision”. Spellbonded audience not only amazed by old man’s intelligence but their respect for him increases. The young men got their answer and were repenting for suspecting on Old man’s knowledge.

Image Credit : http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/story-principled-chief-conservator-forests-bastar-chhattisgarh