a devotee had a very good habit. Whenever he left his office, he would buy a few buns to distribute to some poor people who sat along the street. It so happened that one of these men was just at the entrance of his apartment, and this was a regular practice.
Now, one evening, he was very busy and unfortunately, he could not buy these buns. He was feeling very uncomfortable because he wouldn't be able to give it, but he came along. His only worry was that while he would be able to bypass all the other poor people because he would be driving in his car, the person he would definitely have to encounter is the one at the entrance of his apartment.
He wondered, “How can I face this person? Surely, he's going to ask me for the bun and I will have to tell him 'no'.” So, he came up with an idea. He thought, “I'll park my car a little far away and enter my apartment from the rear.”
But, unfortunately, when he reached his place and was about to do this disappearing act, this poor man sitting in the entrance saw him and called out, “Sir!” devotee says it was a very uneasy feeling. He thought, “He's going to ask me for the bun. How am I going to tell him that I have no bun today?'”
Anyway, he responds and says, “I'm really sorry, I couldn't get a bun today.” The poor man looks at him with a smile and says, “Sir, I did not call you here for your bun, but every day, when you give me your bun, you give a beautiful smile and that makes me feel wanted. That makes me feel part of this human fraternity and it's only that smile that I ask for.”
So, this is a beautiful experience which says that it's not just about giving material things. Even a smile is also about love.
beautifully captures this need for love in our every act by saying, “Work is love made visible and if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For, if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.” Such a beautiful thought!
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