Kids' Quiz
This time
we have a quiz for you. Read carefully these
little tales told by the Master, Sri
Ramakrishna and, thinking them over, try
to give a good answer to the question at the
end of each.
In India in olden days,
there were three friends who were going through a dense
forest. Suddenly they were aware of a tiger, stalking
them at a distance. "Oh, oh! " said one (we'll
call him Sharp-eye), now we are in for it! We're
lost. There's no escape, for the tiger will outrun us!"
"Why should you
say that?" asked the second friend. "You
have no faith in God! (His name was Prayerful.)
"Come, let us all kneel down and pray to Him
who is the Creator and Ruler of the universe and ask Him
to save us."
The third friend did not like this.
His name was God-love. He said, "No, let
us all climb this tree; why should we give trouble
to God?"
Question: It was the third traveler whom Ramakrishna
praised. Why?
This story
too is about friends -- four of them. Out for a walk,
they saw along their way a long wall, enclosing --
who knows what -- and became curious. The wall was
also very high. One of them went in search of a ladder, and
finding one of some length, succeeded in climbing to the
top of the wall. He looked inside and whatever he saw
made him speechless with wonder. He only cried aloud,
"Aha! Aha!" and disappeared over the wall.
Now the others became
very eager to see what had amazed their friend. One
by one, two more climbed the ladder and when they got
to the top, simply dropped over the other side, speechless.
The fourth friend followed
to the top of the wall. But when he saw what was on
the other side, he said to himself: "Oh, how amazing
and how wonderful; I simply must tell the world about
this." Instead of jumping into the enclosure he
climbed back down the ladder and ran about spreading the
news.
Question: Can you figure out what was
on the other side of the wall, and why Sri Ramakrishna
tells the story?
One woman had a sister-in-law
who was a weaver and decided to visit her after quite
a long while. The weaver woman had been spinning silk
thread. When she saw her sister-in-law she said, "What
a surprise! Oh, how glad I am to see you after a long
time. Let me get you some refreshments." And she
went out of the room. The other woman looked at the
silken threads of different colors and was too much
tempted. She picked up one bundle of thread and hid
it under her arm, beneath her clothing. When her hostess
returned, she began to offer the refreshments to her
guest with great enthusiasm.
Suddenly, looking at
her thread, she realized that a bundle had been taken.
So she hit upon a plan to get it back. "Sister,"
she exclaimed, "this is a day of great joy for
me! It has been so long since you came. Let us celebrate
the occasion with a dance. I am so happy, I feel like dancing;
come join me!"
"I too am very happy," said the other, and
got up to join in dancing. The weaver went round and
round the room with both her arms up high, dancing
and singing.
But her sister-in-law raised only one arm as she danced,
pressing the other against her side.
"What is this?"
the weaver woman asked, "Why do you dance like
that? Raise both arms!"
"Well," said
the other, "this is my particular style of dancing;
this is all I know of dancing."
Question: Sri Ramakrishna was talking about
how attachment to objects keeps us from being really
free. How does the story illustrate this?
Once in India a hermit
(somebody who lives alone in the forest or mountains,
practicing meditation and other disciplines) was disturbed
in his meditation by the droppings of a crow on his
head. When he glanced up at the bird in great anger,
the crow was simply burnt to ashes. The hermit thought
to himself, "I have destroyed the bird by a mere glance;
I must have made great progress in spiritual life."
He went some distance to a house to beg his food. In
the house to which he came was a woman serving her
sick husband, day and night. She was busy at this and
could not open the door as soon as he knocked. The
hermit, an impatient man, began to shout at her.
This pious woman humbled
him. "Patience, sir," she said; "I am
not your crow. I am busy taking care of my husband;
when I finish I will see what you need."
Questions: How did the hermit manage to burn
up the crow? How did the housewife know that he had
done it?
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