“Charity gives itself rich; covetousness hoards itself poor.” -- German proverb
Reflection:
There is a well known fable in India of a poor homeless beggar who lived in a State ruled by a Maharaja.
The beggar set out every morning to beg by the roadside with his beggar's bowl. For merit, passers-by threw grains of rice or copper coins his way. One day he heard that the Maharaja himself would be coming that way. That raised his hopes, as he said to himself, “Surely, the Maharaja will give me nothing less than a gold coin." The following day he took up his usual position by the side of the road, and patiently awaited the Maharaja's coming. Patiently the beggar waited, until almost sunset when he heard the Maharaja coming. Stepping into the road, he approached the Maharaja begging for alms. Instead of giving him anything, the Maharaja extended his hands and asked the beggar to give him something. Extremely disappointed and disgusted at a wealthy ruler begging from a poor beggar, he counted out five grains of rice from his bowl and placed them angrily in the hands of the Maharaja. “Namaste,” said the Maharaja, and continued his journey.
Filled with sadness, the beggar returned home and began to clean the rice he had received that day. A small glittering object attracted his attention. Picking it up, he saw that it was a grain of gold. Laying it carefully to one side, he went on winnowing until he found another glittering golden grain, then another—a fourth, then a fifth golden grain was found, but no matter how long he searched after that, there were no other golden grains.
Then the truth dawned on him. Five grains of rice given to the Maharaja had brought him in return five grains of gold. “What a fool I was!” he exclaimed regretfully, “If I'd known I would have given him all of it.”
I have experienced so many times, that the more I give the more I receive and the more I hold back the less I receive. Let us take a lesson from the beggar not to hoard ourselves poor but to give ourselves rich by giving, expecting nothing in return, and you will experience riches of mind and spirit, and often materially, too.