Once upon a time Mulla Naseeruddin was sitting with his friends. They all were discussing about the new Kaazi (Minister appointed by the king as the caretaker of a town), but Mulla was quiet.

Ultimately some of his friends realised that Mulla had not spoken anything about the Kaazi. They decided to use the opportunity to extract something from his mouth and belittle Mulla in the court next day. They requested him to express his opinion. Mulla felt irritated as he did not want to get involved in an unnecessary gossip.

Feeling himself to be at the wrong place, he decided to keep quiet. But unfortunately his friends kept on pestering him. Ultimately Mulla, not able to get himself out of the situation asked them, “Do you all know me?” The answer was unified yes. Then he asked “Do you all know the Kaazi?” Again the answer was unified yes. Mulla said “If you know me and if you know the Kaazi as well then you all are intelligent enough to estimate my opinion about him. I don’t think that I need to express my opinion to such intellectuals.” Having said this, Mulla became quiet.

His friends realized that Mulla had successfully escaped a tricky situation. After some time they again started pestering him for his opinion. Mulla asked them the same questions. This time their answer was a unified ‘No’. Mulla said “If you don’t know me and if you don’t know the Kaazi as well then there is no point in expressing my opinion here.” Having said this Mulla sat down on his chair.

Hearing this, his friends became even more determined to extract something controversial from his mouth. With renewed vigour, his friends started compelling him again. Mulla understood that it was a plan to demolish his reputation in Kaazi’s court.

He repeated his questions, but this time his friends were also ready. Half of them said, they knew him and the Kaazi and the other half said that they did not know who they were. Mulla got up from his seat and said “It’s good to see that some of you know me and the Kaazi but there are some who are still unaware of us. In this case, again it becomes futile to express my opinion here. I request all those who know my opinion, to tell all those who don’t know.” Having said this he got up and left the place. (A TURKISH FOLKLORE)

Friends, I decided to start my post with this story, as I find it very relevant in today’s world. I see now a days, people make their life complicated and complex by building a web of lies and deceit around them and creating a mountainous ego. The ego is promoted to such a level that it becomes difficult to handle it.

Certain amphibians have this rare trait. They triple their body size by sucking air through their mouth. Their bloated bodies give an impression of magnanimity and the predator feels intimidated.

Now humans are acquiring this unique trait. They gloat and bloat on the materialistic aspects of life. Even more dangerous are those who feel that they are ‘know it all’. Such people live in false ego and create an unpleasant environment around them, trying to force in their whimsical ideas into the minds of all.

First thing, a bragging mind destructs and demolishes beyond recognition is the human self. It kills morality, logic and reasoning capacity of the very same mind in which it exists. Remember a lie how much ever big it may seem, but unfortunately it is an inflated balloon. The moment it is pricked with the pin of truth, it gets reduced to its depreciated and emaciated self. So realize, it is not important to give an opinion on everything and force our ideas into the minds of others. At times, we may be wrong in our ideas or may be simply do not fit in the company in which we are in. At such times, it is best to keep our mouth shut and let our minds be open. As the old saying goes “Mouth open, mind shut.”

So channel your energy into your mind; it will lead to something positive and productive. Stop living the self-pretentious life. And at times, understand that it is best to slip out of tricky situations just like The Great Mulla Naseerudin Hoda.