Chanakyas Two Oil Lamps

Dadi: "Guddu, what do you think honesty means?"

Guddu: "Not telling lies?"

Dadi: "That's part of it. But tonight's story is about a different kind of honesty - being honest with things that don't even belong to you."

Guddu: "I don't understand, Dadi."

Dadi: "Let me tell you about Chanakya and his two oil lamps. You know Chanakya was the most powerful advisor in the Maurya Empire, right?"

Guddu: "Yes! He helped Chandragupta become emperor!"

Dadi: "Exactly. Now, one evening, a traveler from China came to visit Chanakya. When he entered the great man's room, he was surprised. For such a powerful minister, Chanakya lived very simply."

Guddu: "No palace?"

Dadi: "Just a modest room. Chanakya was writing something important by the light of an oil lamp. He welcomed the visitor warmly and quickly finished his work."

Guddu: "That's polite."

Dadi: "But then something strange happened. Chanakya put out the first lamp... and lit a completely different one."

Guddu: "Why? Was the first one broken?"

Dadi: "The Chinese traveler asked the same thing. "Is this some Indian custom when guests arrive?""

Chanakya smiled and shook his head. "No, my friend. The first lamp was filled with oil bought from the state treasury. I was doing official work - work for the nation. That oil belongs to the people."

Guddu: "Ohhhh..."

Dadi: ""Now," Chanakya continued, "we are having a personal conversation. This has nothing to do with my official duties. So I cannot use the nation's oil. This lamp is filled with oil I bought with my own money.""

Guddu: "That's... that's SO careful, Dadi!"

Dadi: "The visitor was amazed. Here was a man who could have had anything - palaces, servants, treasures. But he wouldn't use even a drop of oil that wasn't rightfully his for personal use."

Guddu: "But nobody would have known if he used the same lamp!"

Dadi: "Exactly, beta. That's the point. Chanakya didn't do it because someone was watching. He did it because it was right. True honesty isn't about getting caught - it's about what you do when no one is looking."

Guddu: "Is that what you mean by being honest with things?"

Dadi: "Yes. In school, you use books and pencils provided by the school. At home, you use what Mummy and Papa provide. When you grow up, you might work somewhere with office supplies, computers, official things."

Guddu: "And I should keep them separate from my own stuff?"

Dadi: "That's the lesson. What's public is public. What's personal is personal. Mixing them up - even in small ways - starts a slippery slope."

Guddu: "Dadi, did Chanakya ever get rich?"

Dadi: "He could have been the richest man in the empire. But when he died, he had almost nothing. He gave his entire life to the nation, not to himself. That's why people still remember him thousands of years later."

Guddu: "I want to be remembered like that too."

Dadi: "Then start small, beta. With your own two lamps."