Satsang Thought for the day

Once there was a rich man. But not even once in his life
had he done any charity. One day, he felt a sudden urge to
do some "dana". He decided to give gold small pieces to
poor people everyday. Unfortunately, he told his wife about
his intention. She said, "My beloved one, instead of giving
small pieces, you can give a larger quantity of gold, by
gathering all the pieces.

The rich man accepted her words as divine mantras.
Hence from that day onwards, he started to gather the
golden pieces. He decided to make them into a big golden
ball and then give it away before his death. Years rolled
on and he collected a good many small pieces, which he
made into a golden ball and kept it inside his pillow.

All of a sudden, one day, he fell ill and his condition
became quite serious. He could not even move his hands.
His tongue lost its power and he could not speak. He
hi-cupped and the sputum blocked his throat. He
understood that death was near and resented very much
for not performing the cherished 'dana' already.

He said to himself "Atleast now I should do the thing". But
he couldn't even speak out what he was thinking. He could
not move his hands and take the gold ball out of the pillow.
He tried to remind his wife of their resolve.

Collecting all his energy, he showed by signs to his wife,
"As we had discussed earlier, I have made a gold ball with
the pieces of gold intended for giving in charity daily. The
ball is now inside the pillow. Now, my end has come. But
I have no strength to take it out and give it to the needy
people. Without making any further delay, you please take
it out and give it in charity".

The wife understood what her husband meant. But she
thought, "My husband is going to die soon. There is no
surety that my children will take care of me, after they
grow. So now is the time for me to act intelligently. I will
not give the golden ball in charity now. Rather I can keep
it with me until my lifetime. That is the only safety for my life".

Her two sons standing nearby could not understand what
their father wanted to convey by his signs. The younger one
asked his mother, "Mother, Father shows signs of a ball,
what he wants to say?"

The mother did not want to tell him the truth. She said, "Son,
before you were born, we regularly took wood-apple fruit, and
we both liked it. He used to bring the fruit and I would mix it
with sugar and give it to him. Now also he wants that fruit".

The elder son said, "Mother, it is our duty to fulfill the last
wish of our father. So, we shall bring the fruit". He started
with his younger brother. It was not the season for that fruit.
However after a great deal of searching the boys found out a
wood-apple tree. But a new problem cropped up. None of
them knew how to climbing a tree. They stood below worrying
how to pluck the fruits. They were sad.

A few monkeys were living in that tree. Imitating the two boys
they also mocked at them by putting up a sad appearance.
On seeing that, the younger brother got an idea, "Brother, the
monkeys show sad faces like us. Let us throw a stone at
them. In return, the monkeys will hit us with those fruits".

Immediately they picked up a stone each and threw them at
the monkeys. The monkeys like very much to imitate the
actions of human-beings. Immediately they plucked the fruits
from the tree and threw them at the boys. The sons picked
up the fruits and ran to their mother.

She took the pulp from the fruits, mixed it with sugar and gave
it to her husband. The husband was already suffering with
sputum blocking his throat and he couldn't speak. But just to
save the gold, the wife compelled her husband to eat that fruit.
Due to her compulsion, he also had to eat it.

It is a well known fact that anyone who takes that fruit too
much, while suffering with cold and sputum has to die. This
is a common truth. It became true in the matter of that rich
man also. He died.

This is a Jain story. What do we understand from this?

Good things are to be done immediately, because we don't
know whether tomorrow belongs to us or to the God of Death.

The thing that we want to do on a future day should be done
tomorrow itself. That, which we intend to do tomorrow should
be done today itself. Finally what we intend to do today
should be carried out now itself. In Sanskrit they say -
Subhasya Seegram.