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Chapter Gratefulness
W ith the rise of virtues, one's abilities also continue to grow. A child would fall down with a small jerk, but a grown-up one can easily withstand it. Similarly a well-established virtuous person can withstand the rise of vices. If a drop of oil falls in water, it spreads over its whole surface; similarly virtues spread over one's entire lifestyle. The wicked ones are like boiling oil; if it drops in water, it raises a flame therein.
During the infinite length of time cycle, it is rare to get the human birth. If we do not develop virtues in this life, it would go in vain. There is nothing more important to be gained in life. Our attention so far has been on wrong objectives. Let us now change it and go in for virtues. Gratefulness is a major virtue. We need to feel grateful for even the slightest obligation of others; otherwise we would be called ungrateful.
There was a barber who had gained the accomplishment of keeping any object in air. One monk came to know of it and persuaded the barber to teach him the same. After learning that art, the monk started moving place to place and displayed the miracle of keeping different objects in air. Since he could not say that he had learnt the art from a barber, he contended that he had gained it by undertaking spiritual pursuit in the Himalayas. No accomplishment can, however, 146
