The wise villager¹²

There was a very old villager whom everybody appreciated and admired. She had tremendous wisdom, and many people, even from other villages, used to come to her for advice. She was quite poor, but she was very reluctant to take money from people.

One day it was raining very heavily. About ten guests were at her house. She felt that if her guests, plus her own children and grandchildren, stayed inside her one room, they would all suffocate. So she asked her relatives to remain outside the house. “I beg of you to go outside in the rain,” she said.

They listened to her and went outside, where they got totally drenched.

Then she saw that her one-room house was not big enough even for the guests. She asked them, “Would you kindly remain standing while I give you food.”

After she served her guests she said, “I have to be one with everyone. I am one with you because you are my guests. Guests are like gods. I have to honour, worship and adore you. The members of my family, I asked to remain outside. Now I am going outside to feed them. I have to be one with everybody. This is how God wants me to live on earth — to be one with everybody. You deserve one treatment and they deserve another treatment. Their suffering is my suffering. Again, I don’t want you to go outside in the rain because you will suffer. It is I who should serve my family in this way.”

Everybody was deeply moved by the old woman’s words, and they appreciated and admired her great wisdom.