A young boy was playing next to a river in a village. Suddenly he heard a voice in pain: "Help me! Save me! Pl help me!" A crocodile was caught in a net and it cried out for help. The boy hesitated, what if the crocodile ate him up. The crocodile assured him that it wouldn’t devour him and once again pleaded for help. The boy began to cut the net. No sooner the head of the crocodile was released from the net; it caught the boy’s leg in its jaws.

Now it was boy’s turn to ask for help. He said,"How unfair you are". Crocodile replied,"What to do, such are the ways of the world, such is life". The boy looked around and asked the birds sitting on the adjacent tree. "Is the crocodile uttering the truth? Is life unjust? Are not words honoured?" The birds replied we take care to build nests at safe places as the top of the tree. Yet the snakes come and swallow the eggs. The crocodile is right.

The boy saw a donkey grazing near the river, and repeated his question. The donkey replied," When I was young, my master extracted maximum amount of work from me. Now that I am old and feeble, he has abandoned me. Such is indeed the unfairness in the world." The boy was not satisfied and thought there has to be somebody who expects fairness. He saw a rabbit and repeated his question. The rabbit replied, "No No! What nonsense! I cannot accept what crocodile is saying." Hearing this the crocodile became angry and wanted to argue with the rabbit but could not do so as he was holding the boy’s leg in his mouth. The rabbit laughed.

Crocodile muttered, "I am not a fool to open mouth. The boy would run away." The rabbit said, "You are really stupid. You have forgotten how powerful your tail is. You can smash him with your tail if he runs". The crocodile fell for this and releasing the grip on the boy, it started arguing. The boy immediately ran. When crocodile tried to raise its tail, it realise that it was caught in the net.

The rabbit smiled, "Now do you realise such is the way of the world. Such is life!" The boy returned to the village. In the meanwhile a dog spotted the rabbit and stated chasing it. The boy screamed at the dog. "Don’t hurt the rabbit; he has saved my life." But before the boy could intervene, the dog had killed the rabbit.

Unfairness is a part of life. Such life’s mysteries cannot be fully understood. Maybe these are the fruits of our Sanchit karmas. But let us not create such Agami karmas, to face further problems in this or next birth. Lord Krishna says in Gita that one must follow his Dharma. Our Dharma teaches us to be fair, loving, compassionate, polite and humble with all. Following this will ultimately lead us to our ‘Jan-Janardan’, as he is the one present in all of us.