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Regards.

The keyword in the proverb is spice.

We all know spice is a vegetable material of many kinds, fragrant or aromatic and pungent to the taste, as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cloves, etc., which are used in cookery and to flavor sauces, pickles.

Spice adds flavour and taste to food. As such, food without spice is bland and usually tasteless.

What is true of food is true of life too. Variety, like spice, enriches or alters the quality of life in a small but significant degree. It gives zest, a mild flavoring and more importantly a relish, a hearty enjoyment of life.

A change in routine, a new approach, a new idea, a new venture or adventure, a vacation or an avocation, a new hobby or a new pet or a game, all add flavour to life. Else life will be dull and monotonous.

We all need healthy change in order to avoid becoming mechanical. Already most of our daily routines have made us automatons. We have to come out of the rigmarole, once in a while and feel alive and human. This is possible when we take a detour from the beaten track.

A word of caution however: Just as too much of spice can spoil the taste of food, so also too much variety can, in fact, hamper the quality of life.

we should at all times give up excesses. Positively stated it means that moderation is the royal road to health and happiness

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

Broth is thin soup of meat.

If we allow a cook to make the broth, he prepares it according to his knowledge and experience of making it. If it is not good he can rectify it and make it better next time. On the other hand, if too many cooks are allowed to make broth, the result can be disastrous. One will say one thing and another cook will say another thing totally contradictory. The result: a spoilt broth.

In much the same way, a task that requires one person should not be assigned to many. There is every chance that they may not get along well. The results will be bad. In addition it will not be possible to hold any particular person responsible for spoiling the task.

Any job needs a certain amount of discipline and coordination. This is possible only if the experts are limited in number. For instance take an office that has too many officers bossing over their subordinates. In such a case the quality of the job that the subordinates do suffers because of different and conflicting directions that are given by the bosses.

Likewise an army with too many generals will be unable to attack properly. A team with too many captains is most likely to lose.

The proverb advises moderation in everything. Therefore, only the required number of people, with their duties specified, should handle a job if that job is not to duffer in quality

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

The source of the proverb is the Bible:’ What so ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’.

The religious meaning of the proverb is that one will be rewarded or punished according to whether one leads a virtuous or a sinful life. Accordingly, happiness or misery in our life is the result of our own deeds.

In an extended sense, the proverb suggests that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions. Every action of ours has a result. Good actions produce good results where as bad actions produce bad results. The results are proportionate to the efforts men put in.

A person who sins throughout life one cannot expect salvation. A student who wanders throughout the year cannot think of topping in the examination. In much the same way, a farmer’s labours and his seeds are returned to him in the form of the yield of his crop. The output of the farmer is dependent on the quality of the seeds and the manner of the sowing.

Every discipline has its own character and demands and until one fulfils them he cannot reach anywhere. Rise and success in life demand labour, industry, toil and effort. A good result is a manifestation of intense efforts that have gone into its making. A lazy person cannot achieve anything good as long as he does not exert himself enough.

Madam Curie is known today because of the intense effort she and her husband put in. Florence Nightingale ‘s name we lovingly recall because of the love and care with which she nursed the wounded soldiers. Hitler creates terror in our hearts and is abhorred to this day.

Thus, it becomes clear that ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’.

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

This proverb is a reference the well-known fable of the hare and the tortoise. While the hare, over-confident of success, took things too easy, the slow-moving tortoise plodded steadily on and managed to win the race.

We should not be discouraged by the size of the task we have to do. If we do it little by little and steadily, we can achieve success.

Take the case of a student who labours ‘eighteen hours’ a day near the examination. He cannot ensure brilliant results that could have been certain even by ‘six hours’ a day study.

Anything done in a hurry cannot have solid, deep and firm foundations. It is the slow and constant labour that brings results.

On the contrary haste and rashness are almost always negative and destructive. They reflect an unplanned attitude. A man in haste is practically a half-blinded man, often impulsive and headstrong. Such a person is sure to lose in the marathon race of life that can be only won slowly and steadily. For as the Latin proverb says,’ if haste is at all to be made, it should be made slowly’.

For example, a businessman should be patient and calm-minded. He should look in all directions before striking a bargain. If he is in a hurry, chances are that he may not consider all aspects fully and thus stand to lose.

‘Hurry’, a Russian proverb says,’ is only good for catching flies’. The work done coolly, calmly with a balanced mind often last longer and proves fruitful than that done by working against the clock.

Thus while doing anything we must not forget that nothing worthwhile can be achieved in a single day or overnight and that every achievement takes time. Patient and persistent effort will beat the labours of a spasmodic (irregular) Hercules.

The following quotation of the Greek philosopher Ovid sums up the ideas: ” What is harder than rock or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Only persevere.”

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

This thought-provoking line occurs in the drama “The Merchant of Venice” written by Shakespeare.

It means that external brightness is not always a sure sign of inner excellence. A piece of iron or any other base metal, if plated with gold will give an illusion of gold. Simple persons may be deceived. Cheats have often passed gold-plated ornaments as real gold. An experienced and cautious jeweler would not be fooled for he would put it to test on the touchstone.

In an extended sense, appearances can be deceptive whether of metals or of situations or of human beings. The wearing of a gown would not make an idiot a professor, nor would he is able to pass off like a lawyer. His face would still betray his foolishness. Painting and powdering the may attract attention or notice, but it will not take long to find out the person is only wearing a ‘fancy dress’.

In today’s world, showmanship is the order of the day; it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate a criminal from a gentleman. Obviously, the apparel does not always make the man known. But sadly man gives undue importance to externals. As a result even inferior products are marketed successfully thanks to the misleading appearances of the product.

Glossy magazines and newspapers very often are shallow [low] in content. A man who has speaks sweetly and has pleasing manners may be wicked and harmful. A well-dressed man may turn out to be a cheat.

Hence we should guard ourselves against deception [cheating] by appearances. We should be guided more by our minds than by our eyes.

We should carefully study the nature of men rather than hastily judge them by their outward appearances for as Shakespeare says in Hamlet, ‘ One may smile and smile and be a villain’.

__________________
“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

The proverb is based perhaps on the experience of a hunter.

It states a truth which is very obvious. In fact, it understates the truth for a bird, which is in our possession, is better than any number of birds in the bush. As such, it would indeed be foolish to leave the bird in our hand and run after the ones in the bush. It would only be a wild-goose chase.

In an extended sense, ‘Bird’ in the proverb stands for ‘opportunity’. ‘A bird in hand’ means what is certain or what is in our possession. ‘Two in the bush’ means what is not certain or what we may get in the future. The saying thus states that what we have now has far greater value than what we may get in future.

The popular fable of ‘The Dog with a Bone’ illustrates this maxim. Once a dog with a bone in its mouth was crossing a stream in which it saw its reflection. Unmindful of the bone in its mouth it jumped for the bone in the reflection and reached the bank empty-handed.

However, we have to admit that the proverb is too realistic and for higher achievements one has to sacrifice the immediate gains at times.

For instance, the risk a businessman has to take is very plain. His eye is more on the distant gain than on immediate profit. He seems to prefer the two birds in the bush to the one in hand. Most of the time his calculated risk pays off. In the share market too, business runs on speculation, on possible future gain. This, no doubt, involves a lot of risk.

Generally speaking, the best policy is to keep the one in hand and also strive to get the other two that are in the bush.

The proverb, ‘A bird in hand is worth two in the bush’ underscores the importance of careful judgment to a human being and the ruin that greed brings

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

The keyword in the proverb is ‘mother’. It means source or starting point.

All inventions or discoveries came into being because of their immediate demand or necessity. For when there is an urgent pressing need we try hard to satisfy it. We devote all our energies to fulfill the demand and succeed in our efforts.

If one reads the story of discoveries and inventions one will come across numerous examples to prove the truth of this saying. The primitive man must have felt the need to keep himself warm and protect himself from wild animals. These needs must have driven him to discover fire and invent weapons. Similarly he would have invented the wheel to make he task of dragging huge weights easier.

It is only when we need something badly that we bend all our energies and channelise all our resources for finding, tracing or inventing. Radio, television, railway, aeroplane and telephone were all thought of when necessity for recreation, quick transport and immediate communication was felt.

When the Turks captured Constantinople (now Turkey) the land route to India was closed. The necessity to continue trade links with India arose and it resulted in the discovery of a sea route to India via Cape of Good Hope by Vasco-Da-Gama.

Man needed medicines to cure ailments and he found and made miraculous drugs like penicillin and streptomycin. Today man is busy finding alternate fuels to overcome oil shortage. He is using Genetics to discover ways and means to make life better.

In any field whenever need arises, man uses all his faculties to fulfill the necessity. The result is an invention or a discovery. Hence the proverb ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’.

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

If you give a piece of cloth to a tailor to make a coat, the tailor will first measure the cloth and then decide what kind of coat has to be made out of it. He will not be able to make a coat that requires more material than the cloth provided. The same is the case with our expenses and income. Our expenses should always be within the limits of our income. Otherwise, we surely land in debit and difficulties. The proverb thus tells us not to spend more than what we earn i.e., to live within our means.

The proverb applies not only to individuals but also to business establishment. Of course, a company may raise a loan to expand or diversify its business. But it must do it judiciously; otherwise it will be in deep trouble. Even the government of a country has to keep in mind its total resources while spending.If it does not do so and goes on borrowing recklessly from the people and from foreign countries, it would become bankrupt one day, and come to grief.

So the proverb is of universal application. It teaches us that our actions should suit the circumstances or resources. The wisdom of the proverb would guide everybody to live and work within their means and to avoid possible shame or punishment resulting from living beyond their means.

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”

The general view is that work is done in the office, the factory or the fields and worship is done in a temple or a church or a mosque. The feeling is that we work to earn money and we worship to get the blessings of God. However, the proverb ‘Work is Worship’ combines the idea of work and worship.

Work, the dictionary says, refers to physical or mental effort spent to produce or accomplish something. And the word ‘worship’ comes from the old English word ‘worth-ship’, which means giving worth to something.

So when the wise ones said ‘work is worship’, they meant doing what we do with the sense of worthiness or respect. When we understand that all work – big or small – is valuable and do it with reverence, then our work becomes worship. Work is worship, thus, speaks about the right attitude towards work.

All great people accomplished noble deeds, discovered new things, invented new products only because of their right attitude towards work. Edison, for example, held a world record of 1093 patents for inventions. All these were possible because of his worshipful attitude towards his work.

The mother at home works with the same attitude. Whether it is sweeping or cleaning the utensils or preparing food, she does it with love and care. Cooking, cleaning, sweeping may be lowly tasks but the mother with her worshipful outlook towards work changes daily chores into joyful jobs.

Thus, it becomes clear that work done with the sense of worthiness or respect is worship.

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“I truly enjoy no more of the world's good things than what I willingly distribute to the needy”