The Elephant Rope

Once Vasuki and Ashok were passing near the circus pavilion. Saw many animals – Lions, Tigers, Giraffe’s, elephants and obliviously Monkey’s. While passing the elephants, they suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

They saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," trainer said, "when elephant was a baby, we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. The baby elephant tried to break but couldn’t. The baby again tried but couldn’t break the rope.

After few attempt’s baby elephant give’s up with the belief that it cannot break FREE. As the elephant grow up, elephant’s are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. Elephants believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

Vasuki and Ashok were amazed that these animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Reflections :

-Is it the rope that shackles the adult elephant ? Or is he real shackle its own mental and emotional conditioning!?

-Think over – what ropes are holding us ? Can we stretch more, raise the bar to realize our Dreams ?

-How many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

-Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.