What we give is ours, what we keep is not ours...

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః  

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

In continuation of my previous first post, where I ended with a statement similar to the title of this post, here is a small story.

Once there lived a Swamiji (sanyaasi) on a small hillock near a village located on the other side of a small river. He used to get Bhiksha from the villagers once in a while and continue with his meditation and other things. Once two women went to the Swamiji and said, "Swamiji, we hear you saying many times in your discourses, 'What you give is yours and what you keep is not yours.' Can you please explain this?"

Swamiji went on, "When we enter this world we dont get anything physically with us. But we are given things by God based on what has been accrued to us over the previous janmas. If your bag contains punyam, acquired through good deeds, then that will enable you get better things in this janma. If it contains Paapam, then it will leave you with troubles, difficulties etc. Both Punyam and Paapam effects are distributed in every lifespan. So, you acquire punyam by helping others, giving to others. What you give to others during one janma is what comes back to you in your next janma. Its like a deposit in a bank. But what you store with you without giving to others will be taken up by some one else and that will not be given to you in your next janma. Most importantly what you give should be something that you would have utilized. One should never give something that the other person cannot use. So, if you want to give some food to some one, make sure that you give something that is edible. Not the one that you could not eat. What you sow is what u reap."

With that explanation, the women put up a smiling face, having heard the above innumerable times from multiple people till then. The Swami understood that expression and immediately tells them. "You please get me some clothes, utensils, bed sheets and any other items that you deem good for use for a person who has lost his/her shelter because of floods. Please wrap them up in a big cloth so that I dont get to see what's inside."

Both the women go home and return the next day with two big packs. One woman puts all nice clothes, nice utensils, rugs and other usable items in that. The other woman puts all useless and torn clothes, broken utensils etc. The Swamiji asks them to put those two packs in one corner of his hut and tells both of them to leave.

After few weeks, the river overflows and drowns most of the houses including the houses of these two women. Both the women go to the Swamiji and tells them their problems. Swamiji then asks them to take the packs that they had deposited with him few weeks back. Rest is obvious...

Btw, the reason why I mention the slokas in the beginning is to ensure that you read the post along with those and not skip those. If you dont have time, make sure that you read the slokas and leave the post, but dont skip reading those. Also, while reading, kindly ensure that you remember your guru (Sri Sankaraachaarya otherwise), Vighneswara (Ganapathi) & Sri Sankaraachaarya. That would give immense benefit.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.