1 + 1 = 3

Through judging we will separate and through understanding, we will grow.

Vishnu Kumawat
Know Thyself, Heal Thyself
4 min readAug 30, 2024

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

A teacher was teaching maths in Rohan’s class. After teaching everyone, he asked Rohan — if I give you 1 apple in one hand and 1 more apple in the other hand, how many apples will you have in total?

Rohan answered, Sir, I will have a total of 3 apples. The teacher asked Rohan this same question again and again but every time Rohan gave the 3 apples answer.

The teacher suddenly remembered that Rohan liked pomegranate very much. That teacher changed his question this time and asked him — Rohan, if I give you 1 pomegranate in one hand and 1 more pomegranate in the other hand, then how many pomegranates will you have in total?

Rohan answered, Sir, I will have a total of 2 pomegranates.

The teacher became very happy and asked Rohan the same old question again. Rohan, if I give you 1 apple in one hand and 1 more apple in the other hand, then how many apples will you have in total?

Rohan answered, Sir, I will have a total of 3 apples.

The teacher got very angry after hearing Rohan’s answer and asked him out loud, you had given the correct answer to those 1 and 1 pomegranates, a total of 2. But then why are you telling a total 3 of apples? The teacher said, Rohan, the question is exactly the same, just I used pomegranate instead of apple, then why are you giving a total of 3 apples?

Rohan said, I said 3 apples because there is one apple inside my bag too and when you asked how many apples I have total, then I answered 3, 2 in my hands and 1 inside my bag.

Who’s at fault here now? Is it the teacher’s fault here? Not at all, because 1 + 1 is always 2. And so whether it is apple or pomegranate, the total of all these are 2.

Is it Rohan’s fault now? Not at all, because apart from 2 apples in his hands, he had one apple inside his bag too, and hence he answered him a total of 3 apples.

Now think about it, don’t we fight because who is right? Who’s wrong? Who did right? Who did wrong? We become judgmental.

We should never be judgmental in such a situation. Just as Rohan was right in his place, so that teacher was also right in his place.

We fight, and we get angry because we can’t see that hidden apple.

We fail to see the truth behind the reason for our fight.

We can’t really see the TRUTH.

We fight because we become judgmental and eventually a difference becomes between us. There is a difference in our being right. Let us try to understand this in the form of an example.

Sometimes we feel that a person is not talking to us, they do not want to talk to us or they are avoiding us. Eventually, we become judgmental that this person is no longer right, this person is wrong and slowly we start thinking bad and negative towards the person.

Yes, we can be right that the person is not really talking to us. That’s true. It is clearly visible to us that the person is not talking to us. We are right. No doubt. He’s not talking to us. Just like that teacher was right 1 + 1 is always 2.

But can we see that hidden apple?

Are we being judgmental like that teacher?

We see that the person is not talking to us, but are we able to see why that person is not able to talk to us?

Are we able to see this hidden truth?

I will ask again, can we see that hidden apple?

That’s what we do most of the time. We never try to see that hidden apple. We just try to be right.

We keep trying to be right, that’s all we do.

Just imagine, if we try to find that hidden apple, if we try to see that hidden TRUTH, do you think we will fight? No way. We will not fight. Rather, it will develop an understanding between us and our outlook will also improve.

Instead of being judgmental, we need to see and understand things from a 360 angle. Before we reach any decision, we should find that hidden apple, we should try to understand that hidden TRUTH. We should never judge others. We don’t know their story. We should go beyond the seen and try to understand the hidden TRUTH that can help us to resolve our situation, and it will help us to understand the person as well.

We all are on the same journey.

We all are learning.

We all are growing.

Everyone is different and unique, so we should remember this. It is really not good to judge someone. We should also never judge someone on the basis of the opinions of others. We may think that yes we can understand others but actually, we do not.

Through judging we will separate and through understanding, we will grow.

Now the decision is in our hands.

I will consider myself very blessed if this effort succeeds in bringing a sweet smile to your lovely faces and helping even a little in your lives.

Please try to share this article and its lessons with the people in your life whose lives you also want to change.

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Thank you.

Best wishes.

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Know Thyself, Heal Thyself
Know Thyself, Heal Thyself

Published in Know Thyself, Heal Thyself

Authenticity, vulnerability, awareness & growth through storytelling, sharing of personal experiences, and knowledge on spiritual matters.

Vishnu Kumawat
Vishnu Kumawat