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The Story of Charity from the Heart
Spring 2004
Excerpt from "Twelve Facets of Reality: The Jain Path to Freedom"
The story has its roots in the past, but is not remote for today. Palitana, a city in the state of Gujarat in India - known as Shatrunjay - is a city of temples on the hills. You won't find such a large number of beautiful temples anywhere else in the world. But do you know who built these temples? Certainly not a single person! They are a result of the love and devotion of countless unknown hearts.
The Chief Minister named Bahad wished to grab the rare opportunity of renovating and, if needed, reconstructing these ancient temples. It was his ardent desire to do this arduous work, but even the village people wished to extend their helping hand in this task. Everybody craved to donate something for this great renovation. Everybody felt it was a rare opportunity to be part of the contribution. The news of the contribution to restructure the temples reached the ears of Bheema Kundliya, a poor trader who barely earned his livelihood by selling ghee (butter). He too felt, “Why shouldn't I part with everything I have?” Just an ordinary trader! He sat down to count his savings or you may call it his only capital! In all he had one and a half rupees. A man with tattered dhoti, with dusty spots of ghee on it, became restless. The longing to give his meager capital became his goal.
Bheema started his journey to donate his capital to charity. He walked about 12 kilometers, reached the gorgeous residence of Bahad, but he was stunned. He saw that thousands of rich people were giving to charity thousands of gold coins. He thought to himself, “Who will care for me here where so many are eager to contribute precious jewels? Who will allow me to even stand here?” He was disappointed. He sighed, “How unfortunate am I!"
He turned back and, sitting under a tree, he thought for a while, “It's true that I did go there but did I tell the minister, 'Please accept my gift.' If he had refused, then I would have believed that he is not willing to accept my contribution. So, Let me go once again.”
22 - Journey to Enlightenment - Volume Two
