How Much is Enough to Live, to Find the Answer, Read on

Ananta koti dandavat at your lotus feet Swamiji. I don’t have words to explain my gratitude for you. You are providing me nice learning experiences and driving me to write them. I am writing your version of teaching with full dedication and devotion. I know that now my mind is under your software control!

Yesterday, there was vegetable market, where I went to purchase vegetables. The market is near to my house. Many-a-times I have seen a deaf and dumb boy of about 14 years of age near that area. It seems the poor fellow is an orphan spending time at various shops doings some petty work to earn a living. Whenever there is some political rally, he will be seen around holding flag of the Political Party. I have come across him many times.

Now coming back to topic, my son Sahil is very fond of samosas. One particular somosa wala comes to the market who prepares really tasty samosas. I was purchasing somosa for Sahil. The boy was sitting nearby. I saw him and indicated him if he also wanted to have some. But very politely he indicated back that he did not want. I thought that he was afraid. So, I went to him and with some soothing expression, I conveyed the message that there was no reason to fear.

But indicating me that his stomach was full, he politely turned down my offer and showed me that he had some stuff preserved for diner also. I wondered if I could give him some money for arranging food for the next day. But the boy smiled and indicated that he had enough for the day, and he was not worried about the next day. Showing me skywards, he conveyed me that there is some supreme power who takes care of him. So, he had nothing to worry. He sleeps peacefully at the night, wakes up with the brake of dawn and so on. Even after requesting him to take some money, he totally refused with folded hands.

Tears started rolling down my cheeks at the simplicity of the boy. How divine he is. How satisfied and happy he is! I was totally spellbound. The deaf and dumb boy’s message made me deaf and dumb for a brief period of time. I was feeling very small in front of the boy. I was just thinking that in this rat race how deaf all of us have become to our fellow human being’s problems. We have adopted hypocrisy to such an extent that we remain dumb in front our higher authorities even if they don’t talk logical, make wrong decisions, do injustice to our colleagues. We want to remain good in their eyes for our own shellfish ambitions.

The boy is deaf and dumb by birth, but we are learning to become so and act like that out of selfishness. We are running day and night forgetting our beloved ones for name, fame, climbing up hierarchy in our professional career, amass wealth much beyond our requirement. We are running after all material aspects of our life forgetting the real relationships, the spiritual path etc. We don’t even think of people who are not ‘useful’ to us in our ambitious life.

I was just dumbstruck as if somebody has really hit me hard in my core. I went to an isolated place and cried my heart out. As few days ago I was also passing through a very low phase all attributable to my own fault. I was thinking that I was doing everything and wanted to be in control of everything happening in my life. I was so much fool that I forgot to thank god for what he has given me. At the age of 36, I have a loving and caring wife, a really talented son, a govt. job, a duplex house in a gated community, no family burden of any kind. What else could have I asked for? Still, I was strangling myself over petty things.

I was forgetting about millions who go to bed empty stomach daily, babies who die because of malnutrition, people who work 10 times harder than me, but still get 10 times less remuneration than me. I was feeling shame on me.

When most of us are worried about our monetary bank balance or wealth, the deaf and dumb boy was not at all worried about anything. He is much richer than many of us from emotional point of view