A person wanted to learn Karate and therefore he decided to visit one of the best Karate Schools.
He went to the master and expressed his wish to learn Karate. The master looked at him from top to bottom and then very coldly told him that he cannot get admission to Karate school, but first he will have to stay there and work for 3 months on daily jobs like cleaning, gardening, cooking, water filling, repair and maintenance etc. Once he does all these jobs, then the master will decide based on his performance, whether he should be admitted to karate school or not. The person became sad but he agreed for this.
From next day onwards his daily chores started and he was made to do the following things:
- Cleaning the whole school
- Getting water for everyone from a distant canal
- Chopping vegetables for cooking
- Clothes washing
- Repair and maintenance works like: Repair of boundary wall
- Cutting of Wooden logs
- Gardening
- Pressing of Spices
Importance of Practice
While cleaning of whole school, he was made to wipe the floor and sometimes was given a task of preventing anyone from making the floor dirty by speeding his work up his mopping work with cloth, whereby he had to put the cloth underneath the feet of the person who intended to make the floor dirty, the catch was that he had to match the speed of the person who was dirtying the floor, using his feet/hands. To this he was really surprised, as to why all this was being done.
While getting water from nearby canal, he was given a shoulder yoke with 4 buckets attached to it. When completely filled, the weight of water was so much that it was difficult to walk for 1 KM on flat surface. But this guy had to carry this load from down hill canal to uphill school and he had to do several rounds in order to fulfill the complete requirement. He again became so frustrated while doing this job and started to wonder if he would even survive to learn karate or not.
Then came the task of cutting and chopping of vegetables for cooking. He was given loads and loads of vegetables to cut, but again the catch here was:
- He had to cut each kind of vegetable in a precise shape and shape.
- Time given to complete this whole cutting job was very less and he knew that if he will cut with his normal skills, then he would never be able to finish the task on time.
So, he thought about this task and after repeated efforts he devised a new strategy and skill of chopping and cutting these vegetable with a big sword like butcher knife, along with increasing his speed multifold. Other skill which he developed was of using 2 knives at a time and cutting vegetables in a very high speed with both the knives at the same time.
While washing clothes, he had to do that with his bare hands and he was given a bat like equipment along with a brush, after dripping the clothes in water, he had to apply soap on the cloth with his hands and then he use to beat the cloth with bat to remove the dirt while beating with the bat he had to do a complete rotation of his arm, so that more pressure could be asserted. He also used the brush in a to-&-fro movement to scratch the cloth, so as to remove the dirt, this was again done at very high speed, so as to finish the task in time.
He was also made to do general repair & maintenance work at the school. Like once he was asked to repair the boundary wall of the school along with installing the sharp fences at top of this 20 feet in high wall. For this task he was not given any scaffolding or stairs, but was asked to climb the palm trees, which were there, running along the boundary wall. So he had to climb those trees and balance himself up at the top while doing his job.
This was extremely difficult for him, as he had to carry along with him all the repair material, sharp fence material and other items needed to complete this job to the top of the tree to reach the boundary wall.
He then use to cut and split the wooden logs, which were used for cooking. For this he was given an axe, which was very heavy for him. While cutting these logs, he had to completely rotate his arm, bringing it from the top, so as to exert the maximum pressure.
As the school was having a huge area, therefore maintaining it was a mammoth task and needed atleast 5-7 people who would be involved in cutting of big bushes and wild plants which used to grow within the premises. But he was all-alone and was required to use a sword to cut all these big bushes and wild plants. Here also, he was required to increase his speed to a great extent, as he had to complete this task in time. His arm movement while using the sword had to be like lightening quick and in a particular motion, so that this could be done.
Importance of Following our Teacher
Another task assigned to him was planting of trees and plucking of ripe vegetables/fruits. So while planting trees he had to first dig a whole using a garden shovel, wherein he was required to undertake a specific movement to dig that whole of desired/appropriate size and then plant infant trees.
While plucking ripe vegetables/fruits he was required to carry this whole load on his back in a jute basket, so he use to pluck these vegetables and fruits from various part of the school area and then use to carry this whole basket on his back to the storage area for future use.
Another task which he was required to do, was to break the spices into minute particles for their further processing. For this he was given an iron pot and a long heavy iron bar, he use to put the spices in this iron pot and then strike it with the iron bar in a particular movement with his hand.
He use to follow this as his daily routine and after completing his tasks when he use to come to his bed, he was completely drained out and many a times use to pass away in deep sleep without having food. He wondered, what his routine has become and whether he’ll ever be able to learn Karate or not in his life.
So after 3 months working tirelessly and putting his wholehearted efforts, he went to the master and asked if he could now get admission to karate school. On this the master again looked at him from top to bottom and smiled.
His master attacked him from front in a typical Karate move, to his absolute surprise, this guy was able to defend himself from that attack by bringing his hand in front of his face with great speed.
Master then then told him “My Child You Have Already Learnt All The Major Lessons Of Karate In These Last 3 Months”.
Master then explained him while cleaning & mopping the whole school, he had developed & mastered foot skills of Karate. He worked on his shoulders while carrying water from canal and developed his arms during this task. While chopping vegetables he developed arm speed and power by those actions. Washing clothes with bat and brush helped him develop his arm and shoulders along with bringing flexibility and power.
Climbing up the tree (for repair of the boundary) helped him bring strength to his inner core muscles and he also learnt how to balance his body weight while carrying lot of stuff in his hands. Cutting of wooden logs helped him gain strength in his arms. While cutting big bushes and wild plant with sword he developed & mastered karate movement of defending himself with his hand and that too with lightening speed.
Finally pressing of spices also helped him developed strength along with karate movement of arms.
This guy was absolutely stunned to hear all this and everything went like a flashback from his mind, all these 3 months, all the tasks which we was asked to do. He was short of words to express his happiness. He finally thanked the master and set on the next journey.
Conclusion
We should completely trust our teachers and should wholeheartedly follow their instructions for the best results. In this case, if this person would have thought, what use will I have after doing all these assigned tasks and would not have undergone these tasks, then it would be impossible for him to learn all these skills in 3 months.
When we undertake any task on a daily basis and do it consistently with all our passion, we tend to master it sooner or later. Here “Practice”, “Passion” and “Efforts” are the keywords. When we follow these things, nothing can stop us in mastering even the most difficult of the tasks.