Lalu and Kalu refused to learn anything. Their father tried in many ways to get them educated, and they were driving the teachers away using many ways. Since the father was wealthy, he proclaimed, “I will give half my wealth to any teacher who can educate my two boys in simple arithmetic.” He was thinking that if they can learn how to add up sums, then they can at least do some business later in life.
He proclaimed this, and an old teacher took up the task of educating the two boys. He had seen a lot of life, and he’d seen different kinds of bad students. So he was quite experienced and confident of converting these two boys. He thought, “Let me give it a try.” Unlike all the other teachers, he wasn’t acting like a teacher. He decided, “I’ll act like I’m their friend.” So he said, “Boys, let’s forget about these lessons and go for a walk.” Then he took Lalu and Kalu for a walk, into the field where there were some cows grazing there.
The teacher turned to Lalu and said, “Lalu, I wonder if you could tell me how many legs that cow has.” Lalu very eagerly said, “Yes. One, two…” He began to count and the teacher was thinking, “Ah, he’s learning, very good.” But then Kalu put his hand over Lalu’s mouth. “Don’t say any more! He’s trying to teach you how to count.”
Similarly, Lord Krishna tries to teach us in so many ways. Sometimes He comes personally and speaks the Bhagavad-gita, sometimes He incarnates as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and teaches us, and sometimes He sends His representatives to teach us. But we are so clever, like Lalu and Kalu, that we don’t take it.
But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not practice them regularly, are to be considered bereft of all knowledge, befooled, and doomed to ignorance and bondage.
(Bhagavad-gita 3.32)
"Art of Living stories" 