Giving

Once upon a time, there lived in a city two brothers. They were very good brothers maintaining great love and respect for each other. Both of them were in different trades altogether. They were both very different when it came to likes and dislikes. The older brother was content with whatever he had whereas the younger one wanted to make more and more money. The older boy would contribute towards charity and the other liked to keep his wealth.
One day, there were very heavy rains an inundation occurred, sending flood waters everywhere. A MAHATMA (saintly person) who was living in the area wanted a place to stay. Due to this unprecedented rain and chose the dwelling of the brothers. They welcomed the Mahatma very graciously and with reverence made his stay very comfortable. Irrespective of their nature, both of them served the Mahatma with Bhakthi and respect.
The Mahatma, very happy, thanked and blessed the boys for their hospitality and gave two seeds as his gift to them. He explained that the seeds were very unique in that when sowed would sprout into fruit bearing trees within a day. He informed them that one of the trees will give the required number of Golden Mangoes and the other when asked will give a continuous supply of Golden Mangoes with a condition that whosoever owns it should collect them and put them away nonstop. Failing to do so will result in his demise.

The older brother chose the first tree and as expected the younger one chose the second tree. They chose an auspicious day and planted the seeds in the adjacent fields behind their homes. As ordained, the trees were ready within a day. The older boy had some money in reserve and he waited to ask the tree for the required number of golden mangoes. Thus he reserved the tree for a day when he really needed it. Younger one quickly asked for the golden mangoes and soon the fruits arrived requiring him to collect immediately without pause. The supply was unending and due to the characteristics of the chosen tree he had no choice but to collect and collect no matter how tired he was.

The older boy needed money and asked for only five mangoes from his tree which he easily disposed of for a reasonable price, making use of the money to obtain his needs. The younger one collected and collected without respite, due to fear of loosing his life and has no chance of using the golden mangoes for his enjoyment. After a while as he was busy collecting the fruits his sons and family members took away the golden mangoes sold them for lots of money and enjoyed a lavish living.

The Mahatma came back to find out how the brothers were doing. Surprisingly he could see only one house and where the second house was he could see only a heap of golden mangoes. As soon as the younger brother caught the sight of the Mahatma he pleaded to him to stop the supply immediately.
The Mahatma fulfilled his wishes and stopped the tree from giving any more mangoes and stated that whatever was the boy’s wish was, it was only getting fulfilled. What we learn from this story is that when wealth exceeds our needs it becomes a nuisance and causes harm to our peaceful existence. Don’t we all appreciate the shade of a tree when it is very hot on a sunny day? None of us can eat money or satisfy our hunger for food with gold as the diet. It is never wise to collect and hoard wealth. Every one of us needs just enough money to satisfy our reasonable necessities in life. When we hide our excessive income it becomes black money. Moreover, a peaceful life can be taken over by constant worrying about how to protect the wealth.

If we do not have money then we have problems too. Just enough will do. If we have too much we have a tendency to hide it from our relatives and also from income tax officers. We get sick with high blood pressure, stress, diabetes and all the possible physical ailments set in due to constant worrying.
When one cannot have and enjoy regular food and is restricted to a tasteless, diet just to survive, where is the joy of living? When one has wealth more than his needs then that person should be glad to part with the excessive wealth for charities. 

When a person earns only one thousand dollars he can pay his debt if he receives ten thousand dollars. When a person earns a million dollars then he needs ten million to solve his dilemmas. Money is clearly not useful beyond a certain amount. We have to retain sufficient wealth and the rest we should spend on good and charitable causes.
“Amma Blesses you with Joy and Contentment”.