Once a young man came to Socrates

Once a young man came to Socrates  & said, “I want to learn everything you know. I want your wisdom.“

To that Socrates responded, “Follow me to that river.”

“Take a close look & tell me what you see.”

The young man replied, “I see only the river of course.”

Socrates told him to peep down into the water & asked him to look closer.

As he peered over bank & leaned closer, Socrates grabbed the man”s head & shoved it under water!!!

The man tried to escape & flailed his arms wildly as he was getting choked.

But Socrates” strong grip kept his head submerged in water just a little more time!

As the young man continued to struggle, finally Socrates released his grip & let his head come out of water.

“Are you crazy old man? You want to kill me?”, shouted the young man gasping for his breath.

Socrates asked him, “When I was holding your head under water, what is that 1 thing you needed most? What did you want more than anything else?”

“I wanted to breathe I wanted air of course”, said the man still panting.

“So”, Socrates said, “If & when you want WISDOM that badly like you wanted AIR, then you come to me!!!”

PS: “If you want something badly, you”ve to pay a price for it, for nothing in life comes that easily. There is plenty of grace that God can give you.  But it is at a depth!  Hence you need to want GOD that badly. While GOD is very compassionate, it”s you who has to “melt” his heart with your DEVOTION!!!

Some effort is required to obtain it.  If you need to fetch water from a well, you need to tie a rope to the bucket, lower it into the well and draw the water out.  The rope to use is that of devotion.  This rope must be tied to the vessel of your heart and lowered into the well of God”s grace.  What you receive, when the water is drawn out, is pure bliss.  Live in love with everybody. Once you earn this love, everything else will be added unto you.