148. Wise use of Energy
O nce upon a time, two sworn enemies prayed to God. God decided to bless them both and appeared before each of them separately. The first wished to know what the second would ask for. When God appeared before the second, he requested that God bless the first one first, since God had appeared there earlier. God then appeared before the first. Knowing the second’s intention, the first asked God to grant him double of whatever the second would receive. Blinded by enmity, the second then prayed that he should lose one eye so that the first would lose both; lose one leg so that the other would lose both legs. This spiral of mutual loss continued. This story illustrates a lose–lose game that unfolds when one invests energy in hatred. That is why Krishna advises us to renounce hatred, but not action ( karma ) (5.3) by inculcating the divine quality of forgiveness (16.3). Another learning from this story is that we should wisely invest our time and energy as these are limited a...