Let us do our duty sincerely

In a certain province there was no rain fall for few years. People were fleeing away to other places for a livelihood. The king’s treasury was also almost got empty. It was an empty sight everywhere. 


During this period Sri Narada was passing by a village. In the outskirts of the village there was a complete dry river. To his surprise Naradaji saw a peasant ploughing the dry sand there. Narada asked the man why he was working so hard in the blazing sun where there is definitely no fruit to get out of it? 


The farmer told,” Sir, I am born in the family of farmers. I have no proper knowledge of anything else. I don’t know the reason why Lord Indra has forgotten his duty to shower rain for last few years. Let me not forget my duty as a farmer. Therefore I am doing my duty in this scorching heat. 


Narada got the point. After his return, he narrated the incident to Indra. Now Indra could realize the issue and took the necessary steps.

Understanding the motivation behind the criticism!

Criticism is an extremely valuable element to success.  It is important to value the opinions of others and change your actions based on good feedback.  It is this feedback that helps us to achieve success. The first rule of accepting criticism is to understand the motivation behind the criticism. Understanding this motivation helps you decide how valid the criticism is, and whether to accept it or not.  Here are some of the more common reasons why people criticize.


    * Out of jealousy.  When others are jealous of your work, they will criticize with the intent of damaging your self-esteem.  It is usually easy to spot this motivation because the critic will usually have something to gain by your failure.


    * Out of anger or frustration.  Often when someone gets frustrated they misdirect their frustration and start playing the blame game.  This blame is dished out in the form of undue criticism. This kind of criticism can easily be identified by the tone and the words used to criticize.


    * Concerned for one's own interest. People have different tastes and preferences.  Some critics will criticize based on their own personal preferences.  Take for example someone who hires an artist to paint a portrait.  The one who is being painted is justified in criticizing the work based on his own personal preferences, since the work was specifically done for him. 


    * Concerned for your best interest. Criticism made by parents, loved ones, or good friends is usually done with your best interest in mind.  This is important to realize because it is this group of "critics" that are usually the most resented for their criticism.