I happen to read this story in some magazine or newspaper (don’t exactly remember the source).

The Fable:

On a dry and hot day, there was this Yogi and a handful of his students, walking through the midst of a forest. As they walked along, the Yogi stepped on a thorny plant. The Yogi’s students were alarmed and were quick in their response to help their teacher. As, the thorns were being removed from the Yogi’s feat, one of his students’ was furious over the throny plant and decided to cut off the thorny branches of the plant. As, he was ready to get into the act, the Yogi stopped his student.

The Yogi, told his student not to cut the plant. This took his students by surprise. The Yogi, then slowly asked one of his disciples to get some water and mix the water with some sugar. He then, asked the student who was eager to cut the plant, to pour this sweetened water to the thorny plant.

The atmosphere surrounding was that of bewilderment and surprise. His students asked their Guru, as to what was the significance of this act.The Guru, smiled and explained, that the sweet water would get to the roots of the plant. The water would attract the ants around. In the process of consuming the sugar, the ants would eat the roots of the thorny plant. This would kill the plant all together.

The jist of the story:
> Analyze and “attack the root cause” of the problem.
> Tackle the problem with “softer/non-violent” means which would give ”permanent solutions.”