Yogi & the Scorpion — A Short Story

Once upon a time, there was a yogi meditating near a river. Suddenly he saw a scorpion had fallen down in the water and was trying to come out of the water, but was unable to do so. Then that yogi came forward to help him. He took a wood stick and tried to pull him out with that stick but was unable to help that scorpion.

So he finally used his hand to pull the scorpion out of the water. He put his hand under the scorpion to hold him on his palm but as soon as he was able to take him out, the scorpion stung him. The yogi was feeling unbearable pain due to scorpion bite, As a result of this he was not able to hold scorpion and the scorpion again fell down in the water. The yogi again tried to save the scorpion but the next time, but still the same thing happened. This all kept on happening again and again.

A person was passing from there and after seeing all this, he finally came to yogi and asked, “If the scorpion is biting you again and again, still why are you risking your life again and again for him, just leave him.”

The yogi replied, “When the scorpion can not leave his basic nature of biting somebody, how can I leave my basic nature of helping everybody. If he is determined to bite, I am determined to save him.”

After few more attempts the yogi was able to save the scorpion’s life and pulled him out of the water.