One day Krishna & Arjuna were taking their usual walk,
when they came across an old Brahmin begging, taking pity on his condition,
Arjuna gave him a bag of gold coins.
The man was overjoyed. On his way to home, he was robbed by
a thief in the forest. He cursed his fate and the next day set off to beg
again.
Arjuna & Krishna saw him again & got to know his
story. Arjuna once again took pity and gave him a large diamond.
The man took it home and kept it in an old pot which had
been unused for many years inorder to keep it safe and went to sleep.
The next morning before he could wake up, his wife went to
fetch water from the river & on her way back, she slipped and her pot
broke. She immediately remembered the pot at home which lay unused and brought
it to fill it with water. Just as she dipped the pot in to the river the
diamond escaped the pot and went in to the river.
When she returned home the Brahmin was desperately searching
the house for the pot & when he saw it in his wife's hands, he got to know
what had happened. Dejected with what had happened, he once again left to go
begging.
Once again Arjuna and Krishna saw him and when Arjuna heard
of the unfortunate incident that had happened, he told Krishna ,
" I don't think this man is destined to be blessed at
all, I don’t think I can help him anymore".
Krishna then gave the man two pennies and the man took them
and walked away.
Arjuna then asked
Krishna," My Lord, if gold coins and diamond could not change his
condition, what good can two pennies do to him?".
Krishna smiled and
replied, "let us see".
As the man walked home he was cursing his fate when he saw a
fish that had just been caught by a fisherman and was struggling for its life,
he took pity on it and thought to himself, " these two pennies cannot
fetch me food anyway, let me at least save the life of this creature" and
he purchased the fish and was about to throw it in the river when he saw that
the breathlessness of the fish was caused due to some large obstruction in its
mouth and when removed it , it was the very diamond he had lost in the river.
He was overjoyed and started shouting "Look what I found! Look what I
found".
At this very time the thief that had robbed him in the
forest was passing by and heard his shouts, he recognized the man and thought
that man too recognized him and was thus shouting. Fearing that the Brahmin may
take him to be executed, he rushed to him and begged for his forgiveness and
returned all the gold coins he had stolen from him. The Brahmin was happy and
walked away joyfully with all his wealth.
He went straight to Arjuna to narrate the turn of events and
thanked him for all his help and went away.
Arjuna then asked
Krishna,
"My Lord, how is it that my gold and diamond could not
help him but your meager two pennies did?.
Krishna replied," when he had the gold and diamonds he
was only thinking of himself and his needs, but when he had the two pennies he
put the needs of another creature before his and so I took care of his needs.
The truth is O Arjuna
when you think of the pain and needs of others and work to help them, you are
doing God's work and hence God Himself takes care of you".
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