3 Stories About Pride That’ll Help You To Let Go of Ego

 

Thoughtful Stories About Pride That’ll Help You To Let Go of Your Ego

Insightful Stories About Pride And Ego: Pride is often considered a negative personality trait when it becomes excessive or arrogant. Nobody wants to be around someone who is so full of themselves. Excessive pride can lead to a lack of humility, empathy, and openness to others’ perspectives.

It can also lead to a sense of superiority and a reluctance to admit mistakes or seek help when needed. However, a healthy sense of pride in one’s accomplishments, identity, and community can be positive and affirming.

Like many traits, the key lies in finding a balance that allows for self-respect and confidence without diminishing others or oneself. Here are some short and inspiring stories that may help you to know the adverse effects of pride.

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1. A Short Story That Tells Why To Curb Your Pride

This story is taken from the great epic Mahabharata. Once upon a time, there lived a sage named Kaushik in a dense forest. He spent long years in penance and meditation in order to acquire great power. One day he was sitting in meditation under a tree. Just then, a crane came and sat on the tree.

It drops its excreta on the sage unknowingly. The sage was annoyed. He looked hard at the bird in anger. Lo and behold! The bird was burnt to ashes in no time. The sage was overjoyed. He had achieved the purpose of his penance.

Now he had the power of life and death over other living beings. No doubt, It was a great power but it enhanced his ego and anger. The sage came out of the forest. He was hungry so he looked around. There was a hut nearby.

He stood before the hut and called. No one came out. The sage waited impatiently. At last, a lady came out. She begged forgiveness of the sage for the delay. Then she offered him food.

The sage lost his temper and gave the lady an angry look. He wished her dead for keeping him waiting. But nothing happened. The lady calmly observed, “I am not that bird to burn ashes by your anger.”

“It is not befitting for a sage like you to get so angry over small matters. It’s not a sign of wisdom. Do you know why your power did not affect me?”

“When you called for alms, I was attending to my husband. My first duty is attending to my husband. Your power cannot harm me when I am doing this duty.”

The sage realized his mistake. His penance had not made him wise. It only made him proud and arrogant. He learned a great lesson on that day from the lady – the lesson of humility. He blessed the lady and left the place.

Moral of The Story: Humility is indeed the greatest virtue of a magnetic personality.

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Top Stories That May Help You To Understand Why Pride Is Bad

2. Insightful Story About Pride And Ego: Pundit & Boatman

Once several men were crossing the river in a boat. One of them, a Pundit (priest of a temple), was making a great display of his erudition, saying that he had studied various books – the Vedas, the Vedanta, and the six systems of philosophy.

He asked fellow passengers and boatman some questions. Pundit: ‘Do you know the Vedanta?’

Boatman: ‘No, revered sir.’

Pundit: It means your half-life is wasted… “Did you read even ‘The Samkhya’ and the ‘Patanjali’s Yogashastra’?”

Boatman: ‘No, revered sir.’

Pundit: What is your life then, did you go to school even?

Boatman: ‘No, revered sir.’

Pundit: It means your leftover quarter life is also wasted… Did you know how to read and write even??

Boatman: No sir.

Pundit: Huh.. your whole life is waste,

The pundit was talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in silence when a great storm arose and the boat was about to sink.

The boatman said to the Pundit, ‘Sir, can you swim?’

‘No’, replied the Pundit.

The Boatman said, ‘I don’t know the Samkhya or the Patanjali, but I can swim.’ ”

Pundit began pleading to save him from drowning in the water. The boatman saved him and said, “Though my life is wasted but, I can save a life by my skills.”

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3. A Simple Story About How To Dissolve Your Ego

The great philosopher-saint of India, Swami Ramanujacharya was physically weak. He would walk to the river for a bath with the aid of other persons. Interestingly, the helping shoulder would be of a Brahmin for the riverward journey and that of a shudra on return.”

People were surprised and asked, “Bhagwan, a shudra’s touch makes you impure again. So what is the sense in bathing then”?

Acharyaji smiled and said, “A bath cleanses my body only. The impurity of the mind is the ‘ego’ feeling of high and low. As long as this ego feeling remains, a person remains impure. Mere bathing is useless.”

“By touching a shudra, I cleanse my heart of this impurity. I am superior to none. All are superior to me. A shudra, too is superior to me. It is to internalize this feeling that I take the help of a shudra while returning.”

Moral of The Story: One should endeavor to cleanse not only the body but also the mind and heart.

We hope you like these stories about pride. Please remember that not all pride is negative, but the type of pride that may come with an attitude of arrogance and self-serving deeds can be a destructive force in a relationship.

With too much pride, comes overconfidence which precludes progress. So, always be aware of it. Feel free to share these stories with your friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram.

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