King Soloman was known throughout the ancient world for his wisdom and fairness in judgement. One day a man came to his court wanting to see for himself the wisdom for which Soloman was famous. He came with two identical bunches of flowers to the king.
"Your Highness, I have heard of your great wisdom and knowledge of all things natural, but I would like to see it for myself. Here I have two bunches of flowers. One is real, and the other is not, but fashioned so beautifully by a gentle craftswoman to look exactly as real flowers. Which one is real and which is fake?"
The king thought just for a minute and then asked his courtier, "Please open that window to my garden."
Then he sat and waited. Soon a few bees came inside the room and they went and settled down on one bunch.
"Those are the real flowers," said the king.

Reprinted with permission from the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, from the Teachers' Guide for Value-based Spiritual Education. Curriculum for Classes I to X, 2000, Sahaj Marg Research and Training Institute of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Chennai, India. For information contact Santosh Khanjee, Secretary of International Affairs at info@srcm.org.

Q: What is the difference between things man-made and those of Nature? Observe some things in Nature, e.g. leaves, flowers, bark and roots of plants and trees, shells, stones, small creatures (do not kill them, just look). Be aware of the differences between leaves on one tree, between the shapes of different trees, the variations between colours on the shells of one type of periwinkle. What does this show us about Nature? What can you learn from Nature?

Q: Do you think people should try to control Nature?

Q: In the story above, it was the natural relationship between flowers and bees that provided a solution to the king's problem. His knowledge of that relationship allowed him to find a simple solution. Can you think of other examples where some natural relationship in Nature could help solve a problem?

Maxim Four: "Be plain and simple to be identical with Nature".

Q: What do you think this means?

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.