Three Beggers

-

There was a good-natured millionaire in the town. Three beggars thought of approaching him for help. 


The first man went to the millionaire and said: "O Lord! I want five rupees. Please give me." The millionaire was taken aback at this man's impudence. "What! You demand five rupees from me as though I owe you the money! How dare you? Here, take these two rupees and get away," he said. The man went away with the two rupees.


The next beggar went to the millionaire and said: "Oh Lord! I have not taken a square meal for the past ten days. Please help me."

"How much do you want?" asked the millionaire.

"Whatever you give me, Maharaj," replied the beggar.

"Here, take this ten rupee note. You can have nice food for at least three days." The beggar walked away with the ten rupee note.

 

The third beggar came. "Oh Lord, I have heard about your noble qualities. Therefore, I have come to see you. Men of such charitable disposition are verily the manifestations of God on earth," he said.

"Please sit down," said the millionaire. "You appear to be tired. Please take this food," he said, and offered food to the beggar.

"Now please tell me what I can do for you."

"Oh Lord," replied the beggar; "I merely came to meet such a  noble personage that you are. You have given me this rich food already. What more need I get from you? You have already shown extraordinary kindness towards me. May God bless you!"

But the millionaire, struck by the beggar's spirit, begged of the beggar to remain with him, built a decent house for him in his own compound, and looked after him for the rest of his life.

 

In same manner,  Three classes of people approach God, with three different desires and prayers. 

There is the greedy man full of vanity, full of arrogance, full of desires. He demands the objects of worldly enjoyment from God. Since this man, whatever be his vile desires, has had the good sense to approach God, He grants him some part of the desired objects (even these very soon pass away, just as the two rupees the first beggar got are spent before nightfall).

The other type of devotee prays to the Lord for relief from the sufferings of the world, but is better than the first one, in as much as he is ready to abide by His Will. To him the Lord grants full relief from suffering, and bestows on him much wealth and property.

The third type  he merely prays to the Lord: "O Lord, Thou art Existence-Absolute, Knowledge-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute, etc., etc." 

What does he want? Nothing. But the Lord is highly pleased with his spirit of renunciation, of desirelessness and of self-surrender. Therefore, He makes him eat His own food, i.e., He grants this man Supreme Devotion to Himself. Over and above this, He makes the devotee to live in His own House For ever afterwards this devotee dwells in the Lord's Abode as a Liberated Sage

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Design

-
Image
I've been researching about the existence of evil with the help of various books. My current read, at this time, January 11, 2023, is Evil and the God of Love by John Hick. The various thinkers over the course of time have presented their views and I respect their views. But for a layman like me, it didnt make sense. The one thing that I seem to not agree upon with most, is that they viewed the world, this form of our existence as the final form or destination. However, I seem to have a different view. Let me try to explain. We are a work in progress, going towards our destination. The evils, sufferings, trials of this world are a part of the process. This is my analogy. A factory owner has machines, that makes marbles. He is proud of His marbles. His staff does an impeccable job at making marbles. The marbles go through various different machines at different stages of the manufacturing. All marbles, however, start off as glass and silica. They are heated over 1700 degree Celsius,...
Read more

A Handful of Sand

-
Image
Grab a handful of sand. Pick it up. The moment you start lifting your fist, you will see sands are falling.  Regardless of how loose or tight the grip of your fist is, sands are falling. And they will continue to fall, until you have most of the sand out of your grip. At times you will feel you have a good grip and they are not escaping anymore, but the reality is, sands are falling. You and I are here for the time being. And time is passing.  Every relationship you have around you, will end one day. They come with the expiration when they start.    My kids are the essence of my soul. The comfort of my eyes, will not be with me forever. Nor will I be with my wife, who completes me in every way.  Just as I was with my father for 32 years. Thats all I spend with him. If you think about it, 30-40 years is the average of a close relationship.  And those 30-40 years are made up of months, weeks, days, hours and seconds. And while I write this, seconds are passin...
Read more

Ya Allah, forgive me when i whine

-
Today, upon a bus, I saw a girl with golden hair. and wished I was as fair. When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle. She had one leg and wore a crutch. But as she passed, a smile. Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 legs, the world is mine. I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm. I talked with him, he seemed so glad. If I were late, it'd do no harm. And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you, you've been so kind. It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind." Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 eyes, the world is mine. Later, while walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue. He stood and watched the others play. He did not know what to do. I stopped a moment and then I said, "Why don't you join the others, dear?" He looked ahead without a word; and then I knew, he wouldn't hear. Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 ears, th...
Read more