LIFE's LESSONS
Measure of charity
A person was
advised by a holy man to gift a vegetable a day and told that he
would attain great merit by doing so.
The poor man
strictly followed the advice. After death, he was reborn in a
royal family and grew up to become a king.
He was able to
recall what he had done in his past birth. So, he continued to
gift a vegetable a day. Surprisingly, after death, he was reborn
as a beggar. The man was unable to comprehend the reason and so
sought the advice of the holy man who had earlier blessed him.
From the sage, he
learnt that prior to becoming a king he had been very poor and
so a gift of a vegetable a day was sufficient to give him a lot
of virtue.
On the other hand,
as a king he was endowed with affluence. So, thereafter, the
gift of just a vegetable a day was quite insufficient to earn
him merit of any consequence. The person realised that the
extent of charity needed to earn a certain degree of merit
depends upon one’s financial status.
— Compiled from
the net
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