Three Men & A Landlord

Once upon a time in a small town, there lived a rich landlord. He was well known for his generosity and kindness.

In that same town, there were three young men who decided to ask the landlord for some assistance to help them tide over their difficult period.

Now each of them went separately to meet the landlord and made their request accordingly.

The first man walked into the landlord's mansion and rudely gestured to the guards at the gate of his desire to meet the landlord.

Upon meeting him, the man said, "I am in need of some money. Please give me a thousand dollars."

The landlord was taken aback at this man's impudence and remarked,

"What ! You are demanding the money from me as though I owe them to you. How dare you ? Anyway since its my policy never to turn anyone away, here are fifty dollars ....you may go along."

The man walked away with the fifty dollar note.

A few days later the second man walked up to the landlord's mansion and with folded hands, begged the guards at the gate to let him meet the landlord.

When the landlord came, the man quickly bowed his head and with his folded hands said, " Sir, my greetings to you."

The landlord requested him to take a seat and then asked the man what was his problem.

The man then said, " Sir, please help me. I have not been able to get a job and my family has not had a good meal for some days now."

The landlord took out two hundred dollars and handed them to the man.

"Here take this and get yourself and your family a good meal...tomorrow morning come to my factory and i will arrange some work for you."

The man was very happy and grateful to the landlord.

Finally the third man decided to visit the landlord, but before that he made some research on the attributes and qualities of the landlord. His mind was convinced that the landlord was a noble and high soul.

He felt no desire to ask for any help but the thought of having just a glimpse of the landlord was sufficient for him.

One evening as he walked past the landlord's mansion, he politely asked the guards at the main gate if he could just stand by the side of the road in order to catch a glimpse of the landlord as he drove past in.

Unknown to the man, the landlord was taking a stroll nearby and overheard the man's request. He gestured the guard to let the man in.

The man was excited, with hands folded and beaming with joy, he exclaimed,

"Sir, i am so grateful to have the opportunity to meet you in person. I have heard about your noble qualities. The holy books say that men of charitable and kind disposition are verily the manifestations of God on earth ; it would be my good luck to spend some time in your presence."

The landlord replied, "Oh why not - i would be happy to spend some time with you, too. Come in and we shall have dinner together."

The landlord offered the man a hearty meal.

As they sat down to eat together, the landlord said, " Now please tell me what can i do for you."

The man replied,

"Sir, I merely came to meet such a noble personage that you are. You have shown your kindness and offered me this rich food ; for this i am so thankful. What more do i need from you ? Thank you... you have shown extraordinary kindness towards me. May God bless you! "

The landlord liked the man's simple nature and offered him a pleasant surprise.

"Do you see this huge farmland out there," the landlord said as he pointed towards the window.

"I need someone to look after the affairs of my land. Would you like to work for me ? You will stay at the farm house on my land and everything you need will be taken care of."

The man was at loss of words, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, accepted the landlord's generosity.

Now let us draw an analogy of the above story with our relationship with God.

The Creator, God or Almighty is similar in nature to the kind and generous landlord featured in our story.

In this world, there are three classes of people who approach Him, with their various desires and in a myriad of prayers.

The first in this class are those who are entrenched in greed, vanity, arrogance and desires.

They demand the objects of worldy enjoyment from God. Since they have some good sense to approach God , He grants them some portion of their desires.

(even these very soon pass away, just as the fifty dollar note given by the landlord to the first man will not last forever)

The next type are those who pray to God for the relief from the sufferings of this world.

They are sincere, truthful beings who abide by His will and stay within the rules of the creation.

The Creator grants them relief from suffering and bestows on them wealth and happiness.

Finally there are those rare souls who merely pray to God - not for any desires - but to be with Him only.

The Creator is highly pleased with this spirit of renunciation, of desirelessness and of self-surrender.

Therefore, God makes this rare soul eat His own food - He grants him Supreme Devotion to Himself. Over and above this, the soul lives in God's Abode forever as a liberated sage.