(contd…)
“Where did you get it from?” asked Buddha surprised.
“You gave it to me and its mine now!” replied the student confused.
“Exactly” said Buddha, “when I gave you mine, till you hadn’t accepted it, it was still mine. The moment you accepted, it became yours. So, ‘You’ by accepting made it ‘Yours’. What was mine became yours because of your acceptance. Similarly, that lady there gave her anger, frustration, foul language as alms to me. It was all that she had to give”.
A person who deals in grains gives grains in alms. A cloth merchant would give cloth in alms and a goldsmith would give gold. Anyone can give only what she / he has. No one can give what they don’t have. A person who has only anger and hatred, how can you expect love from them? How can you expect understanding from a bundle of hatred? No one can give you something that he hasn’t got for himself”.
“The person will give anything he wants to give and what he has to give. But it is totally to our discretion whether to accept it or not. Everything given need not be taken. So, she gave – true! But, I didn’t accept it. So it is not mine”, said Buddha.
Saying this, my Guru walked towards the exit door.
I followed her. She answered me without answering me. I have come to accept this method of her teaching. Did I understand why she didn’t react to that man’s taunt? I think I did. But, does that mean I can apply it to myself? I doubt. If I understand, then how come I fail to apply?
This question bothered me many times...! Should I ask her? May be I’ll get to hear one more story! Not a problem. I can at least publish all these stories one day and…! But for now, I’ll relax…!