Once upon a time, there lived a king named Rana charya. He was a man
of high principles and valued hard work and sincerity. The king's
favorite proverb was- work is worship.
One day, king Rana Charya decided to find out whether his subjects
followed his ideals or not. So, he called some of his courtiers and
said, "Go through the kingdom and find out what jobs the people have
undertaken, and whether they are performing their duties sincerely
or not. Find the person who knows the secret of hard work, and bring
him to me. But no one should know that you have been sent by me."
"As you wish, you’re Majesty!" said the courtiers and took leave of
the king. "We have an important task to perform," said one of the
courtiers. "Let's start right away." "But many people know that we
are the king's courtiers," said another. "They may identify us."
One of the courtiers, whose name was Raghavan, suggested, "Let's
disguise ourselves as tribal men." So, they all dressed up as tribal
men, boarded a bullock cart and set out on their way.
First, they saw a woodcutter, who was chopping trees with his big
axe.” Let’s talk to him," said Raghavan. They halted their bullock
cart and walked up to the woodcutter. "O woodcutter, do you like
your job?" The woodcutter flung his axe aside and said with grim
face,” Not at all! I do it because this work has been passed down to
me by my ancestors." Raghavan and his group boarded their bullock
cart and proceeded on their path. Some miles passed, and they came
upon a washer man. Ragahvan walked up to the washer man. "Hello,
dear washer man," he said. "It seems you are enjoying your work!"
The washer man became angry and began to beat the clothes harder.
"Is this work enjoyable?" he retorted. "It's a punishment for me.
When I was a child, I did not show much interest in studying. I
never listened to my parents and never worked hard. So, I could not
qualify for a good job. Now my family is dependent on me and I have
to do this job to feed them."
Raghavan got back into the cart and they started again. A few miles
away, they saw a young man studying. "What are you doing, young
man?" asked Raghavan. "I am a teacher," replied the young man. "I am
reading this book so that I can teach my students tomorrow. It gives
me great satisfaction to spread my knowledge."
"Do you know the secret of hard work?" asked Raghavan. "Yes!"
replied the teacher. "Work is worship! No matter what you do, you
must love it and do it sincerely." Raghavan and his group escorted
the teacher to the king. When the king heard what the teacher and
said, he rewarded him and built a big school for his students. Many
people took inspiration from this incident, and ever since then hard
work and sincerity was deeply valued by the people of the kingdom.