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Jagjit's Mysterious Book
Once there was a man who's name was Jagjit. When he was young, his parents always used to fight with each other. His brothers and sisters were mean to him and they never had very much money. But when he grew up he become very wealthy, he had lots and lots of friends and he was a very kind man. He was very happily married and had many blessings in life.
One time Jagjit had a guest visit his house, "Welcome Gupta, please come in!" The guest loved him, and he loved her. Her name was Narayan Gupta, she was Jagjit's best friend. Jagjit went to get some food for them to eat, "While I'm gone, treat this as your own home!" She decided to comb her hair and went looking for an extra comb. When she came in Jagjit's room, she saw a beautiful altar with flowers, incense and beautiful inspiring pictures above it. The alter looked so enchanting, Narayan moved closer to see everything. She noticed some really dazzling and expensive jewels! "Wow! rubies, emeralds... sapphire gems all decorating this wonderful altar! This is so gorgeous. I didn't know my friend was that rich!" As she moved closer to see what was there. Narayan's eyes shined as she saw more wonders.
In the center of the altar was a book. The cover of the book was filled with the most expensive jewels, and rich designs. The letters were made out of solid gold and studded with the purest glittering diamonds! "Gold...pure diamonds!! I've never heard of a book that has so much jewelry on it! What kind of book is this anyway?" As she looked closer, the gold designs were so tiny that it seemed only an ant could have crafted it. "What kind of stories could possibly be written in this book?" Gupta became even more intrigued when she read the gold and diamond studded title of this seemingly magical book. It said, 'The Secret To All Happiness And Success'.
Even though it was on her best friends altar, she couldn't resist herself. She had to open the book to see what was written inside. On the first page she saw something written by her friend, Mr. Jagjit himself. "It's definitely his handwriting." It looked like a diary. "If it's just a diary, why would he have put so many expensive jewels on this book??" She was so so curious now! "What is on these pages? Did Jagjit write down notes from a spiritual master? Does it contain the secrets of the universe??"
She read from the first page. It said: "It is December and I am 9 years old. Today I was walking down the street and a lady I've never met before smiled and said 'Hi' to me. She was a stranger and she waved to me as she walked by. It made me feel nice." Narayan flipped forward some pages: "It is March and I am 14 years old. God must have given me a high-five today because I just found a five dollar bill on the road. I feels good to be lucky!" She flipped some more pages forward: "It is June and I am 18 years old. My friend Narayan Gupta just treated me to lunch. I thanked her. It was very generous of her to do that for me." Narayan thought, "Gosh that was so many years ago. I can't believe he remembered that. Yes actually think about it I did give him lunch! I was in a generous mood that day!"
She was still confused though, "It really wasn't worth writing down... who thinks of such small things? Why did Jagjit write down all these little things that happened? They were nice things sure, but why did he put such a silly thing in the middle of his altar? Why on earth did he put so many diamonds and gold work on the cover of the book? And why is the book called 'The Secret To All Happiness and Success.'!?"
She flipped through more of the book. It was filled... filled with these things that happened in Jagjit's life. Some were big things, but by far, most of them very small things. One of the entries said: "It is September and I am 30 years old. My mom just gave me something I really like for my birthday. I love my family so much!" Gupta thought to herself, "I don't understand Jagjit. He's always been a very smart man... he mostly seems very happy, he has a good job that he really likes doing, he loves his wife and kids very much, he has everything he's really wanted in life.... actually come to think of it... HE REALLY MUST HAVE THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS!!"
Just then the door opened, Gupta was surprised, "Oh! Sorry, I was just... I .. the altar... it..it smelled nice..." "I see you've found my secret to success and happiness." He said. What did he mean it was the 'secret to his success and happiness'? What was so special about these little things that happened in Jagjit's life? Do you know the secret to success and happiness? Find out in part two of this SikhNet story for children!