Once there was a family consisting of the parents and their two sons. Their love, affection and respect for each other were folklores. Both the boys were obedient children of their parents. They used to love and respect their parents not lesser than god. But one day their father passed away. The whole family was in shambles because of the tragic loss.

Recovering from the tragedy the elder brother took place of his father and took responsibility of the family and the house. As the time passed by the elder one started to think that his younger sibling is of no use to the family. He assumed that his younger brother’s contribution to the family and the business is negligible. He thought to himself that he does not need him anymore to support the family or the business and threw him out of their house. The younger brother got very angry by the situations turning against him. He decided to claim his half of the share from his father’s property. But the elder brother refused to part with any money that their father has left. The mother of the two brothers was silent, and with tears filled eyes she was watching her family tearing apart. Their altercation took ugly shape and the matter became public among all villagers. The village elders tried to mediate between the brothers, but to no vain. Half of the villagers were in elder brother’s favor and half the villagers were in favor of the younger sibling. And in no time the matter worsens and it was a war like situation in their small village. 

Finally it became so big of an issue that the elder brother got scared and agreed to part away with some of his father’s possessions for his younger brother. Considering the fact that the total worth of their father’s possession was Rs. 100/-, elder brother refused to shed more than 30% of the total stake. But the younger one wanted 50%, so that was his claim. The war started again, and the consultants were being called for. Every house hold was discussing that matter. Everybody in the village was making a mockery of the situation. Than one day a wise old man mediated between the brothers and it was decided that the total possession of Rs. 100/- shall be divided in three parts. Rs. 40/- shall be given to each brother and Rs. 20/- shall be kept for the mother. The elder brother was happy because he thought the mother is on his side and he owns now 60% of the total stake i.e. 40% of his own and 20% of his mother. The younger sibling was happy because now he thought that his share equals to his brother i.e. Rs. 40/-. 

What do you think was the root cause of the problem?

Yes, greed is the root cause of break up of the families.

Murder, theft, robbery, corruption are all the manifestations of greed.

This story is of the biggest corporate family of India, and of course Rs. 1,00,000/- crores were at stake instead of Rs. 100/-. The whole nation saw the tiff between brothers. 

What can be a better example of what greed makes of a man? Now it is a well known fact that fear motivated the partition possible. Now fear once again is the negative emotion. We don’t need to refer to the history or look for an astrologer to know that the compromise made out of fear is not long lived. They will fight again. And this time the cause of the fight shall be jealousy not greed. 

Negative emotions produce disastrous results. No body knows when this fight will end, but one thing is for sure that it would be an ugly one. We tend to see greed in terms of money. But in depth greed is an emotion, which makes you in demanding position, always. The emotion of demand is such that no matter how much you get the demand increases by the day. It keeps on increasing. 

Quite contrary to this there is another emotion.

The emotion of generosity. Not the emotion of demanding like a beggar but that of king, the emotion of charity. Nature is full of such examples. The sun gives us light and doesn’t ask for anything in lieu of it. The trees give us fruits, the river gives us the water, and the air gives us the oxygen and doesn’t ask for anything for what they are giving us. History has it that the most powerful people of the world were full of such generous emotions. You can keep all the scientists in this category. Only thing to ponder over is how to shed the emotion of demanding and accept the notion of generosity on the emotional level.