Fifteen Rupees
Thursday May 12 2005 08:21 IST
By Karmayogi
All those who were students of the Transfer of Power of 1947 are familiar with one of its architects, V.P. Menon, known as a fourth form graduate (9th standard). His book on Transfer of Power remains an authoritative document. He was Sardar Patels Secretary. Patel frequently reminded him of his promise to write a book on the Transfer of Power. Menon was from Kerala.
In 1947 he became Mountbattens confidant when he was Reforms Commissioner. He retired as Governor of Orissa. As an unemployed youth, he was loitering on the streets of Delhi. He stopped a well-dressed man and said, “If you lend me Rs. 15, I shall find a job and I promise to return it.”
The man lent him Rs. 15. Menon went to Simla and found a job in the government. Later he met the benefactor on the Delhi road with Rs. 15. That good man refused to take it and said, “Keep it. Give it to anyone who needs it like you did.”
V.P. Menon, an unqualified, unemployed youth in the 1st quarter of the 20th century became Lord Mountbattens conscience keeper, Sardar Patels right hand, architect of Indian Independence, Home Secretary of India and finally the Governor of Orissa, because he had the sense of returning that significant Fifteen Rupees. In life there is no giving without taking. There is an equilibrium. The taking may be as money, the giving may be in felt emotions of gratitude. But the exchange has to be there. Krishna could not give Kuchela the fabulous wealth he wanted to give him without Kuchela first offering a handful of rice to him.
The story goes back to their student days when Kuchela ate the portion of Krishnas rice given to him by the gurus wife. When the devotee forgets such dues and God still wants to shower His Grace on him, He steals a TOKEN OFFERING from the devotee and opens the floodgates of Prosperity.
God steals the offering which the devotee is unable to give or unwilling to give because of his narrow emotions of possessive attitude towards MONEY. On the other extreme, when generous hearts are unaware of this law of equilibrium, God gives the offering to the devotee and opens the relationship, maintaining the balance. Here giving becomes taking. Gods token is great and the grace too is infinitely great. How can Gods giving become His taking is a question.
To those who can receive His punishments as Grace, Gods giving is equal to the devotees giving. The Divine in the devotee gives the devotee on his behalf. It is without exception true in the case of one who is all generosity who, like Sibi Chakravarthy, gives his own flesh to save a wounded bird. Help to another without fail enables the victim to offend us, as I said in Libby Prison. That is help offered in vanity or ignorance. The rule is the same. The results depend upon the attitude. One man who was a miser noticed the results of offering and began sending one every day and ended at Her Feet.