Read situations in all the perspectives

The sage Narada wanted to marry a young princess. But she said she wanted to marry only Hari. Hari is the name of Vishnu, who is God and the guardian of earth. Narada went to the princess but instead of garlanding him, she turned around in disgust. There behind her stood Vishnu. The overjoyed princess garlanded Vishnu. Narada wondered what was wrong. Then he saw his face reflected on a mirror.

It was that of a monkey! He accused Vishnu of cheating him. Vishnu smiled and replied, “I gave you the face of Hari, which literally means monkey, though it happens to be my name.”

Narada can read the situation in two ways: a strategic narrative or a sincere narrative.

In a strategic narrative, Narada can see behaving like a lawyer, playing with words to make him feel like a fool.

In a sincere narrative, Narada can see Vishnu behave like God, using a play of words to enlighten him not to trick a young girl simply because he can.

In a strategic narrative, Vishnu is the wily trickster who wants for princess for himself.

In a sincere narrative, Vishnu stops Narada from being a trickster and grants the princess her wish.

In a strategic narrative, Narada feels like a fool.

In a sincere narrative, Narada is enlightened.

Every situation can be read strategically or sincerely.

When we read a situation strategically, we feel manipulated; we feel we have been reduced to a performing monkey.

When we read a situation sincerely, we learn from it; we feel someone cares for us enough to demonstrate to us our shortcomings rather than simply pointing it out.

Now to demonstrate this with a practical example:

After completing his course in Australia, Jason returned to India with plans to start a fast food joint. His father, Paul was a renowned restaurateur, with many small boutique hotels in India, saw the business plan and knew that it would not work. But he gave his son the seeding capital he needed for the business.

The hotel started with much fanfare, but was in the red in less than six months. Jason approached his dad Paul and he in turn, sent his team to help out Jason. They made two key changes, in the menu and in the advertising. And in no time, the sample place, which was empty for six months, was now full of customers.

Now Jason has two options, just like Narada. He can read his father’s actions strategically or sincerely. He can see his dad Paul as a manipulator, a dominant father, one who does not want to help him and want to put him in his place.

Or he can see Paul as a teacher, a caring father, who wanted to show him what actually works in the restaurant business.

Jason can feel like Hari, the monkey, or thank Hari, the teacher. The choice is very his…