Hello everyone/a story

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone. I appreciate the nice comments Jerry, Michele, and Mark.

I have a night class to teach so I will keep this brief and just share this.

 

For some, the dilemma of life is how to give the very best of themselves.

For some,

the thought does not occur. Everything they give is only the best. Which

reminds me of a story my Gurudev told. My teacher's father was a business

man.

He had a clothing shop. In India, it is common for customers to haggle over

prices. One day when my teacher was (as a teenager) sitting with his father

in the shop, a customer came. He wanted to bargain over some item. My

teacher's father refused and said that the price was fixed. The customer was

surprised. "I am willing to pay the price, but I only buy the best," said

the customer. My teacher's father calmly replied, "Sir, everything in my

shop is the best. I carry only the best."

 

My teacher became a Jain monk at the age of 20 when his fiance passed away.

He was the only son and his sister had passed away in childhood.

My teacher's father was a widower and had raised his son himself.

 

After my teacher became a monk, his father reflected carefully on life.

Within

a few months he gave away everything in the shop and joined his son in the

monkhood.

 

Both father and son practiced together for the next 17 years, until the

father passed away.