Volume VI, Issue 5
Story by The Mother
Video by Biswajita Mohapatra
Editor’s Note: The Mother translated and adapted some of the stories from F. J. Gould’s 1911 book, titled ‘Youths’ Noble Path’ into French, for the children of the Ashram school. In 1946, these were published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram under the title Belles Histoires. In 1951, the Ashram brought out English re-translations of these adaptations under the title Tales of All Times. These stories are now included in Volume 2 of the Collected Works of the Mother.
We feature here a short tale on Self-control. In addition to the English translation as told by the Mother, we present the Hindi translation in the form of an animated video. Video editing and voice-over are done by Biswajita Mohapatra.
Self-control
A wild horse can be tamed but one never puts a bridle on a tiger. Why is that? Because in the tiger there is a wicked, cruel and incorrigible force, so that we cannot expect anything good from him and have to destroy him to prevent him from doing harm.
But the wild horse, on the other hand, however unmanageable and skittish he may be to begin with, can be controlled with a little effort and patience. In time he learns to obey and even to love us, and in the end he will of his own accord offer his mouth to the bit that is given to him.
In men too there are rebellious and unmanageable desires and impulses, but these things are rarely uncontrollable like the tiger. They are more often like the wild horse: to be broken in they need a bridle; and the best bridle is the one you put on them yourself, the one called self-control.
~ The Mother, CWM, Vol. 2, p. 173
