Ganesha's Race Around the World
Two brothers race around the world for a divine fruit. One runs. The other thinks.
Sage Narada once came to Mount Kailash carrying a single fruit of divine wisdom. Both brothers — Ganesha and Kartikeya — wanted it, so Shiva and Parvati set a contest: whoever goes around the world three times first will win the fruit.
Kartikeya leapt onto his peacock at once and shot off across mountains, rivers and oceans.
Ganesha looked at his little mouse, and then at his round belly, and smiled. He walked up to his parents, folded his hands, and circled them three times.
"You have not gone around the world," said Shiva.
"My mother and father are my world," said Ganesha. "Everything the world holds, it holds because of them."
When Kartikeya returned, tired and dusty, the fruit was already in his brother's hands — and nobody could argue with the reason.
Moral: Speed is one kind of strength; thinking clearly is another. And the first place to look for the whole world is at home.
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