Room For All

A monk happened to be crossing a village one night when it started to pour. He spotted a raised verandah outside a house that had just enough roof over it, to accommodate him. The monk did not think it proper to knock at any of the houses and ask for shelter at this odd hour. He simply lay down under the shade and slept on the cold stone floor.

A short while later another monk happened to be passing that way. He too was looking for shelter from the rain. The first monk stirred from his sleep to the sound of footsteps. He happily welcomed the second monk saying, “Come brother, there is enough room for both of us to sit. Come sit by my side and rest your tired head on my shoulder.

Sometime later, a third monk who was looking for shelter spotted the first two monks and made his way to the verandah. The first monk got up saying, “Surely we can all fit in under this roof, if we stand. Come my friend; here use my shawl to dry yourself. You are soaked to the skin.”

This is the spirit of tolerance and acceptance that God expects from us. Think of a situation where we are expected to share our space with another. Do we come forward to share or do we look the other way, as if we haven’t even noticed, lest we be expected to adjust or to share?

There is room for all on this Earth. God made sure that there is room for all and food for all. If only the greedy ones would be willing to let go and share with the have-nots, God would surely smile!

Swami says, “The tendrils of love aspire to cling only to the garments of God. It senses that God resides in His infinite splendour in every heart; so it probes silently into the inner most recesses of all personalities around it to discover the seat of God, so that it may bloom therein. That is real devotion. When the tendril clings to worldly objects, it is materialism, not Devotion. It is the direction that is crucial.”