Who am I
There was a beggar! While begging in the train journey, a Seth Ji wearing a suit-boot saw him. He thought that this person seems very rich, he will surely give me good money on begging from him. He started begging from that Seth.
Seeing the beggar, Seth said, “You always ask, do you ever give anything to anyone?”
The beggar said, “Sir, I am a beggar, I always keep asking people, where is my status so that I can give something to someone?”
Seth: – When you cannot give anything to anyone, then you have no right to ask for it. I am a businessman and believe in transactions only, if you have something to give me then only I can give you something in return.
Then the station came where Seth was supposed to get down, he got off the train and left.
Here the beggar started thinking about what Seth had said. The words said by Seth went down in the heart of that beggar. He started thinking that maybe I do not get much money in begging because I am not able to give anything to anyone in return. But I am a beggar, I am not even able to give anything to anyone.
After much thought, the beggar decided that whoever gives him begging, I will definitely give something to that person in return. But now the question was running in his mind that if he himself is a beggar, what can he give to others in return for begging?
The whole day passed by thinking about this but he could not find any answer to his question.
The next day, when he was sitting near the station, his eyes fell on some flowers which were blooming on the plants around the station, he thought, why should I not give some flowers to the people instead of begging. He liked his idea and plucked some flowers from there.
He went to the train to beg. Whenever someone gives him money, he would give some flowers to the person in return. People used to keep those flowers with them after being happy. Now the beggar used to pluck flowers every day and distribute those flowers among the people in exchange for begging.
Within a few days, he realized that now too many people have started giving him money. He used to pluck all the flowers near the station. As long as he had flowers, many people used to give him money. But when he ended up distributing flowers, he did not even get alms, now it continues like this every day.
One day when he was begging, he saw that the same Seth was sitting on the train, due to which he was inspired to give flowers instead of begging.
He immediately reached the person and said, today I have some flowers to give you, you give me some money, I will give you some flowers in return.
Seth gave him some money as alms and the beggar gave him some flowers. That Seth liked this thing very much.
Seth:- Wow what’s the matter..? Today you too have become a businessman like me, saying so much he got down at Seth station with flowers.
But what was said by that Seth once again got into the heart of that beggar, He started thinking again and again about what Seth had said and became very happy. His eyes started shining now, he felt that now he had got the key to success by which he could change his life.
He immediately got down from the train and excitedly looking up at the sky in a very loud voice said, “I am not a beggar, I am a businessman..
I too can be like that Seth.. I can become rich too!
When people saw him, they thought that maybe this beggar has gone mad, from the next day that beggar never appeared again at that station.
A year later, two persons wearing suit boots were traveling at the same station. When both of them looked at each other, one of them bowed to the other with folded hands and said, “Did you recognize me?”
Seth:- “Nope! Maybe we are meeting for the first time.
Beggar:- Seth Ji.. you remember, we are not meeting for the first time but for the third time.
Seth: I can’t remember, by the way, when did we meet the first two times?
Now the first person smiled and said:
We met twice on the same train before, I am the same beggar whom you told me in the first meeting what should I do in life, and in the second meeting told who I really am.
The result was that today I am a big flower trader and I am going to another city for this business.
You told me the law of nature in the first meeting… according to which we get something only when we give something. This rule of transaction really works, I have felt it very well, but I always thought of myself as a beggar, because of this I never thought of getting up and when I met you for the second time you told me that I had become a businessman. Now I understood that I had not really become a beggar but a businessman.
Indian sages probably put the most emphasis on knowing themselves because of this and then said –
सोऽहं शिवोहम !!
It’s just a matter of understanding…
As long as the beggar considered himself a beggar, he remained a beggar. He considered himself a merchant, became a businessman.
The day we will understand who I am…
That is, I am part of God.
Then what will be left to know and understand?
