Those days, the great warrior Shivaji was busy in ensuing gorilla warfare against emperor of Delhi, Auranzeb’s army. One night, he happened to reach the hut of an old lady at the outskirt of forest and asked for food. The old lady cooked porridge and served him affectionately. Hungry as Shivaji was, he burnt his fingers in a hurry to eat the hot porridge. He blew air on his fingers in order to get some relief from the burning sensation. The old lady stared at him and told,” Soldier! Your face resembles that of Shivaji and it seems, you are also a fool like him.”
Shivaji was stunned. He asked her,” Mother! Do tell me Shivaji’s foolishness and mine too.”
The old lady explained,” You didn’t start eating from the edge of the plate where the poridge have cooled off and directly put the fingers in the centre of the plate and got them burnt. The same mistake Shivaji commits. Instead of winning small forts situated at frontier territories of Delhi’s emperor and thereby increasing his might, he attacks on big forts and gets defeated.”
Shivaji understood the reason of his failures in his strategies. He complied with the old lady’s lesson and aimed at small goals first and achieved them. After getting small successes, he consolidated his might and his power was increased and at last he was successful in having great victories.
The moral of the story is great events may have a small beginning.
Pragya Puran,
Part I,
Page 23