Sow Well, Reap Well

One of the basic principle of nature is - "As you sow, so shall you reap". The outcome in our life is a direct reflection of our thoughts and actions. Here is an inspiring tale by Manohar Parrikar that illustrates this principle with a simple narrative.

My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmer would organize a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May. All the kids would be invited to eat as many watermelons as they wanted. It was an event that we used to eagerly look forward to every year.

Years later, I went to IIT Mumbai to study engineering. I went back to my village after six years. All this while, the taste of watermelons was still fresh in my memory. I went to the market looking for watermelons. They were all gone. The ones that were there were so small and relatively tasteless.

This surprised me, and I went to see one of the farmer who hosted the watermelon-eating contest. His son had taken over. He would still host the contest every year but there was a difference. When the older farmer gave us watermelons to eat he would ask us to spit out the seeds into a bowl. We were told not to bite into the seeds. He collected the seeds for his next crop. We were unpaid child workers, actually. He kept his best watermelons for the contest and he got the best seeds which would yield even bigger watermelons the next year.

His son, when he took over, realized that the larger watermelons would fetch more money in the market so he sold the larger ones and kept the smaller ones for the contest. The next year, the watermelons were smaller, the year later even smaller. In watermelons the generation is one year. In seven years, Parra's best watermelons were finished.

This story has a very powerful lesson. If we want to enjoy the fruit of success in life, we need to constantly work towards it, and sow good seeds with our constant efforts and good thoughts. This is the principle of nature. If you want to do well in academics, it is imperative that you study hard on a regular basis. If you want to excel in a sport, you must train regularly. If you want to be a good musician, you have to do your regular riyaz. You should not expect success if you have not put in the required effort for it. Similarly, if we want our children to grow up to be good humans, we have to impart good values in them in their childhood. We have to teach them with our own example.

Kabir has expressed this natural principle very well in this couplet:

करता रहा सो क्यों रहा,
अब करी क्यों पछताए |
बोये पेड़ बबूल का,
अमुआ कहा से पाए |

Meena Jain has a very inspiring comment to add to this:
If you you sow honesty, you will reap trust.
If you sow goodness, you will reap friends.
If you sow humility, you will reap greatness.
If you sow perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you sow consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you sow hard work, you will reap success.
If you sow forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you sow openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you sow patience, you will reap improvements.
If you sow faith, you will reap miracles.

But

If you sow dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you sow selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you sow pride, you will reap destruction.
If you sow jealousy, you will reap trouble.