The teacher asked students to bring potatoes labeled with the names of people they hated. As the week went on, the potatoes smelled bad and were heavy to carry, mirroring the negative impact of harboring hatred. The teacher explained that hatred makes the heart unhealthy, just as the students found it unpleasant to bear the spoiled potatoes. They were taught to forgive and let go of hatred in order to feel happier and healthier.

1. HATE
Story To Reflect
Upon 41
The Burden
of HATRED
A school teacher once asked her students to bring some potatoes
in a plastic bag to school. Each potato would be given a name of
the person whom that child hated. The number of potatoes would
be equal to the number of persons the child hated.
On a chosen day the children brought their potatoes with the
names of the people they hated labeled on the potatoes. Some had
two, some had three and some had even more than five potatoes.
The teacher said the children had to carry these potatoes with
them everywhere they went for a week. As the days passed, the
children started to complain about the bad smell that started
coming from these potatoes. Some students who had many
potatoes complained that it was very heavy to carry them all
around. After one week all the potatoes were discarded.
The teacher asked, “How did you feel in this one week?” The
children said they felt terrible about the bad smell and weight of
the potatoes.
Then the teacher said, “This situation is very similar to what you
carry in your heart when you don’t like some people. This hatred
makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your
heart everywhere you go. If you cannot bear the smell of spoiled
potatoes for a week, imagine the impact of this hatred in your
heart that you carry throughout life.”
Reflection
* Why suffer by carrying anger and hatred in your heart and
mind…your physical and mental health will be affected.
* Life is uncertain. Death is certain. Learn to forgive and let
go. The heart and mind will feel light and happy.
* Hatred is not overcome by hatred. It is overcome by
LOVE. This is an Eternal Law.

2. Story To
Reflect Upon 42
It’s Your Choice
There lived an old wise man in the heights of the Himalayas.
He used to travel down to a village. He had the amazing power to
know anything that a person might be carrying in his hands,
pocket, bag, box or other containers.
One day a few young boys planned to make fun of this old man
by proving that he did not have the amazing power of knowing
concealed items.
One boy caught hold of a bird in his hands. He knew that the old
wise man could definitely tell what he was holding in his hands.
He thought of a plan. He would ask whether the bird in his hands
was alive or dead. If the old man said it was alive, the boy would
kill the bird in his hands so that on opening his hands, the bird
would be found dead. If the old man were to say that the bird was
dead, the boy would open his hands and let the bird fly. In this
way, the boy would prove him wrong.
On the day the old man came into the town, the boy caught hold
of a bird and hid it in his hands at the back. He went the old man
and asked, “Tell me what I have in my hands?”
The old man said, “You have a bird”.
Then boy asked, “Tell me whether it’s alive or dead?”
The old wise man looked at the boy and said, “The bird is in same
state the way you want it…dead or alive”.
While the boy looked at him in amazement, the old man
continued, “The same thing applies in your life too. In life, you
have a choice to do what you want.”
The boy bowed in respect of the old man’s wisdom.
Reflection
* In life we have the choice to chart the direction we wish to take
… in our actions and relationship with others.
* May we choose to do things out of compassion and wisdom.