Amma’s stories on Nature of the human mind – Part 3

1. Sold dead cheap?

Once a very rich man was travelling in a ship. Suddenly the weather turned hostile. A powerful thunderstorm struck the ship. The Captain of the ship announced that the ship cannot be saved from sinking and asked all the people in the ship have to do whatever they could to save themselves if possible. Everyone in the ship panicked. The rich man too started praying God frantically like everyone else in the ship. He prayed to God: “Oh my lord. please save me from this calamity. I promise you that I will sell my 5-star hotel and donate 75% of the amount if you save me”.

Very miraculously, the storm subsided quickly and the ship was saved. All the travellers reached the shore safely.  However, the rich man was in a mental turmoil now.  “Oh, if I sell my 5-star hotel, I will easily get a crore of Rupees and it is such a huge amount! Should I really donate 75 lakhs of rupees to God?  Why would He need such a large sum of money from me? What can I do now?” He thought deeply about it and finally got an idea.

He released an advertisement in the newspaper: “5-star hotel on sale. Expected price: one rupee”.

Hordes of people came running to meet him and buy the property. They could not really understand how and why anyone would sell the hotel for one rupee! He told them: “I promise that the hotel is indeed available for sale for one rupee, but to clinch the deal, you must buy my pet dog for 1 crore of rupees”.

He finally sold the star hotel as per his terms and donated seventy five paise to God!

(Source: Amritam Gamaya – Malayalam – Vol 1)

2. Falling pride

There was a heap of small stones at a place. A boy who came that side, picked up a stone and threw it at the sky.  As the stone was rising high, it suddenly felt very proud.  “Ah! how great I am now! While all the other stones are lying in ground, I am soaring higher and higher. Soon I will be reaching a level in par with the sun and the moon!”
Looking at the other stones, it shouted, “Why are you all lying there? Come up and high!”.

The other stones said, “What to do? Just a few seconds ago, you too were one among us and lying here. Suddenly luck favored you and now you are flying! Everyone needs a right time; we are not so far fortunate”

But the stone that went up could not remain proud for long. It gradually slowed down, stopped and then started falling back to the earth. Within seconds it fell with a thud on the ground, amid the other stones.  Now the stone said, “Okay guys! You see, the fact is I missed you so much that I could not spend much time up there. So I am glad to be back!’

[Amma: “This is precisely the nature of human mind. Whatever one does, the mind tends to justify it as right; if there is a failure, the mind justifies that failure too. It won’t  accept a fault. “]

(Source: Oliyai Nokki – Tamil – Vol.2)

3. “Who will take care of me?”

Once a very old lady was walking across a paddy field. A little girl, who was her great- granddaughter (her daughter’s daughter’s daughter), was holding her hand and carefully taking her along the narrow embankments in the paddy field.

As they walked, the old lady would stop in between; she would place her hands on her waist, look up at the skies and sigh. As this happened several times, the little girl asked, “What is troubling you grandma? Why are you looking at the sky and sighing so frequently?”

The old lady said, “Fortunately you are here today to take my  hands and safely walk me across the field. I was worrying about what will happen in the future when you are dead and gone. Who will take care of me after your lifetime? It is that thought troubling me.”

[Amma: “Think of it! This old lady thinks that she will keep living even after her great granddaughter dies! This indeed is the nature of most of us in this world. We think that death is some distant phenomenon for us, while all the others would die!” ]

(Source: Amrita Ganga)