The Six Disciples!

 Once upon a time, there was an ashram in the land of Silbaripuram. There, Guruji had six disciples.

One day, the guru said to them, "The kitchen at the ashram is out of firewood. Each of you go to the forest, collect one bundle of dry wood, and bring it back."

Five of them walked through the forest and collected firewood. But a disciple named Ramu, wanting to please the guru, broke the firewood into equal pieces, arranged them neatly, and tied them into a beautiful bundle. Moreover, he chose only branches that would burn quickly and provide good heat.

They arrived at the ashram and showed their bundles of firewood to the guru. Ramu pushed his bundle forward with great anticipation, but the guru said nothing.

After a while, Ramu muttered, "I did that job so much better than the others. The guru didn't even notice."

His face was gloomy. The next day, they were sent to the forest to bring back flowers for the puja.

This time, Ramu was not paying extra attention and was picking up whatever flowers he found. The others also collected similar flowers.

As they were walking back, they saw a chick fluttering among the dry leaves. Ramu immediately went to pick it up, but the others expressed their displeasure. "Hey, don't you have anything else to do? How many chicks like this must be lying around in this forest?"

Ramu said, "I can't just leave it here after seeing it. The guru knows the medicine to cure its sickness."

They reached the guru's place. When the guru treated the chick, it flew back into the forest.

The guru said to them, "Look at the good deed of compassion Ramu has done."

Hearing this, Ramu was surprised. After a while, when the guru was alone, he asked, "Yesterday, when I brought beautiful firewood, you said nothing. But now, you praised me for the chick. Why is that?"

The guru replied, "Bringing good firewood neatly was the job I assigned to you. But bringing the chick was an act of your good heart. In the first case, you yearned for praise, while with the chick, you expected nothing."