There lived a big and renowned shopkeeper in a city. His business was going on well and he had two sons who looked after his shop.
He was a Godfearing person and was a moralist. He wanted his sons to follow in his footsteps. However they could not emulate him and were weaklings so to say!
This made him sad and one day he breathed his last!
After their father’s demise, the sons sold their big shop and made two different shops with the amount they got!
Each one of them wanted their own shop to flourish and gather more customers. They were jealous of eachother and always wanted to outshine the other!
But alas! Both were in a loss and their businesses suffered loses!
Both consulted a famous soothsayer who was also their father’s friend, philosopher and guide!
He studied their horoscopes and advised them to exchange their shops and run the others’ business for a month. And come after that. He assured them of a positive outcome.
The sons obeyed and did as were told.
To everyone’s amazement, both made profits for the first time after starting separate entities.
They again visited their adviser, the soothsayer and wanted to know the reason behind the hike in their businesses.
The later replied that both of them wanted to outsmart each other and in the process made many a mistakes for which their businesses suffered.
However upon running eachother’s shops, they wanted the other person to do well as he was sitting in their shops’!
And also they were careful in handling their customers.
Due to their good behavior and hardwork and their right thinking, their businesses flourished.
The soothsayer advised them to bury their differences and to do business together as they did during their father’s period. As together they could sail and pass any hurdles. However upon division they perished!
Thus taking a lesson from this, the two brothers again started working together and merged their businesses.They no longer thought ill of eachother and developed goodwill and compassion. Now coupled with hardwork and understanding the brothers never suffered losses again!!
By: Sidhartha Mishra
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