An Easy Recipe

A rich man born out of giving!

There is a Japanese folk tale about the power of giving and it exemplifies how we can get the most wonderful of gifts when we're gifting things to others and are positive about what we have already got.

Here is the story.

A long time ago, there lived a penniless young farmer. Nothing that he did turned out to be profitable. He was completely impoverished without any money, without anyone to help and nothing to eat. One night, totally at his wit's end, he went to a shrine and sat near the altar and pleaded to Gods to show him what to do.

"I have always been honest and hardworking, but all my hard work never produced any reward for me. What am I doing wrong?"

He fell asleep near the altar just after he put the question. When he woke up in the morning, he saw in front of him one of the Gods he had seen in his dream, with a bright golden light around him. The God's voice reverberated in his mind.

"When you wake up today, treasure the very thing you have in your hand and keep giving it generously to others on your way," the God whispered.

The farmer woke up. He still had many questions jumping through his mind but he lifted himself up and tried to shake off the strangely vivid dream he just had. To his surprise, he saw a piece of straw in his hand. Maybe it was on his clothes after the long day of fieldwork.

He was about to throw the straw away, but remembered what God had told him. Once again he sat down. Then he looked curiously at the bit of straw.

He sat for a while unable to comprehend what all that meant. He did not know how a piece of straw can turn out to be useful. Then he saw a wasp hovering around. After a while the wasp settled on one end of his straw. He caught it and with the help of a thread from his clothes, tied it to the straw. And with a wasp at the end of his straw, he went on his way.

He had gone a little way when he found a small boy and his mother coming towards him from the other end of the road. The boy was weeping. When he said hello to the boy, the child noticed the straw that the man had with a wasp at one end. He stopped his weeping and wanted to have the straw. The farmer was hesitant to give it but then he remembered that God had asked him to value what we owned and also give it to others profusely. So he gave the straw to the boy. The mother was relieved as the boy stopped crying when he got the straw and the wasp. In return she gave the man three tangerines.

The farmer moved on. As he proceeded, he felt hungry. He was about to eat the tangerines when he again remembered that what was important was giving things to others, not giving it to himself.

The farmer was going over a steep hill and on the way he saw a merchant sitting under a tree. The man had a wooden box near him. The farmer wished the man. He appeared to be very tired. He saw the tangerines the farmer held and asked him if he would give it to him. The merchant told the farmer that he was very thirsty.

The farmer was also quite thirsty having walked for a long time during the heat of the day but he offered all the tangerines to the merchant. The merchant ate the three tangerines and regained his strength. He was very grateful for the kindness of the farmer and opened the wooden box next to him. There were rolls of hand dyed silk fabric. The merchant handed him one roll, thanked him and walked off.

The farmer walked again and continued on the same path. After a while he found a river from which he drank water. He felt recharged. He went forward with more energy and a feeling of ease.

The farmer walked and walked not seeing anyone for a long time. He started to think that maybe this was it - his fortune. So, he decided to go to the nearby town to sell the fabric.

But as soon as he turned the corner, he found a group of soldiers. One of them, who appeared to be the leader of the group, was standing near a horse that had fallen on the ground. The leader of the soldiers was saying something to the men of his group.

"This horse would not last long. We just have to leave it. Just take care of it and catch up." He jumped up on another horse and galloped off disappearing out of sight.

The remaining soldiers were left discussing what to do about it. They were reluctant to kill the animal but they did not have much of a choice. At last one of them took out a sword.

The farmer ran to them and requested them to refrain from killing it. He opted to care for the animal. In return for that he gave them the bolt of silk he had. They were happy of the offer and went away fast.

The farmer stood there with the horse that was in its death throes. He felt he might have got it all wrong and that he was not destined to be wealthy. Then he thought of the river that he had come across on the way.

He turned back and went to the river, removed his shirt and immersed it in the river to get water for the horse. He went back to the animal lying on the earth and pressed the water out of the shirt gently into its mouth. As the water went inside drop by drop, the animal slowly got recharged and finally the farmer was able to help it stand up.

The horse finally stood up on its legs so the farmer could take the horse to the stream. As the horse took more water and ate some fresh green grass around the stream, it soon began to regain strength.

Now the farmer had a horse! They set off again together, this time the man had to run to keep up. The horse was actually leading the way. They ran together for miles. As the sun starting to go down, the horse finally stopped in front of a large house. As the farmer caught up, the horse pushed him with his nose to the entrance of the house.

As the farmer approached the gate, the doors swung open and to his surprise, an old man appeared. The old man was rushing outside and was looking a little pale. He noticed the farmer and the horse standing by the gate.

The old man asked the farmer what it was that he needed. The farmer said that he wanted a place where he could sleep at night. The old man queried the farmer if he would mind looking after the house till his return as he had to leave for the nearby town on a pressing matter. He also said that it might take some time for him to return.

The old man looked as if he was in a hurry, so the farmer told him he can take his horse. The old man was very grateful about it and immediately left with the horse. As he left, he said something totally unexpected to the farmer.

"If I am not back in three years, this house becomes yours."

As you perhaps inferred, the old man did not return.

So the farmer lived happily ever after in the old man's big house with kind-hearted neighbours around and a land rich in good crops. He always kept in mind the rule that he should give to others what he had.

I am grateful to you for reading this story. And how did you feel about it?

There is always a pattern to things. If the venture of getting can be converted into the venture of giving, our life would pour forth with greater profusion. But it may be a bit difficult to make this ancient wisdom a part of our lives.

Here are some of the interesting distinctions we can find in this story :

* When we give the things that others want, they usually value it more than we value it while when we are trying to 'sell' something (because fundamentally, we want to get something from the deal), they compare the value with our asking price and try to pay less.

* When we are not attached to the things we have, we often find that we attract better opportunities as we can let go of existing ones.

* When what life offers is not a bed of roses, instead of concentrating on the difficulty if we kept our attention on giving and sharing, life is sure to bring in good things later.

* If we try to turn into cash what we have accumulated, because of the conviction that "this is all it would get" thinking that if we do not encash it, we will lose, our life will stand still. Instead, why don't we keep on giving more and more irrespective of what we have or whether we are actually rich or not.

Gifting is an inherent part of the lives of most winners. When we are ready to give first, we have better chances of living a life of perfection, ease and growth.

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