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Rays of Dharma
People had all sorts of sympathy for him, but how long could they be helpful? His wife therefore undertook to take care of the farming. For that purpose, she had to prepare food in the morning, hurry to the farm and get back in the evening. Thereupon the man thought of becoming helpful to her. He started moving his body on strength of his hands and to reach the kitchen in order to prepare the food, while she was at work. Husband and wife thus became complements to each other.
As the man got used to cooking, he thought to serve the saints arriving at his village. As such, he asked the local people to direct the saints arriving at the village to his place for taking food. He thus began to serve the monks and nuns with fresh bread and buttermilk. The saints were happy with the food and used to bless the family. The man felt gratified that he could be helpful, in spite of being disabled.
If we compare his life with that of a millionaire, we can easily say that the man experienced far greater happiness than the millionaire. By working hard and serving the saints this man gained the peace of mind and got sound sleep at night, while the millionaire had to struggle for sleep and had to take sleeping pills. True happiness cannot therefore be measured in terms of wealth, position or power. If we try to measure it from those criteria, the balance sheet of life would get vitiated.
For happy family life the couples need to have a common approach. If the wife is vegetarian and the husband is not, she might fall in line with him. Wrong traits easily make headway, while one has to endeavor hard for cultivating the virtuous attributes. In a pack of betel leaves if one leaf is rotten, it will soon affect the other leaves. Upadhyay Yashovijayji has therefore said; “Hinä tano je sang na tyaje, tehno gun navi rahe; Jem jaladhijalmän bhalyu Gangänir, loonpanun lahe”. It means: one cannot retain his virtues if he does not give up the company of low people; the water of the Ganges becomes salty as it merges in the sea. 114
