WORDS AND ACTIONS SHOULD BE THE SAME

There once was a boy who loved eating sweets. He always asked for sweets from his father. His
father was a poor man. He could not always afford sweets for his son. But the little boy did not
understand this, and demanded sweets all the time.
The boy’s father thought hard about how to stop the child asking for so many sweets. There was a
very holy man living nearby at that time. The boy’s father had an idea. He decided to take the boy
to the great man who might be able to persuade the child to stop asking for sweets all the time.
The boy and his father went along to the great man. The father said to him, “O great saint, could
you ask my son to stop asking for sweets which I cannot afford?” The great man was in difficulty,
because he liked sweets himself. How could he ask the boy to give up asking for sweets? The holy
man told the father to bring his son back after one month.
During that month, the holy man gave up eating sweets, and when the boy and his father returnedafter a month, the holy man said to the boy “My dear child, will you stop asking for sweets which
your father cannot afford to give you?”
From then on, the boy stopped asking for sweets.
The boy’s father asked the saint, “Why did you not ask
my son to give up asking for sweets when we came to
you a month ago?” The saint replied, “How could I ask a
boy to give up sweets when I loved sweets myself. In the
last month I gave up eating sweets.” A person’s example
is much more powerful than just his words. When we ask
someone to do something, we must do it ourselves also. We should not ask others to do what we do
not do ourselves.
Always make sure that your actions and your words are same.