My eternal friendship with the rickshaw world

Now comes the story of my eternal friendship with the rickshaw world. My brother said, “You have so much money. For God’s sake, do not argue with the poor rickshaw-wallahs.”

I said, “I promise I will not argue with them. I will tell them, ‘Whatever you say’.”

Unfortunately, when I would say to the rickshaw-wallahs, “Whatever you say, I will give,” they would say, “No, you have to tell.”

What could I do? I said, “Last time I gave you ten rupees per hour. This time I am ready to give you fifteen rupees per hour, and each time I hire you, it will be for two hours. So I will give you thirty rupees.”

The rickshaw-wallahs were overjoyed: thirty rupees they would get. I told them, “Now, only do me a favour and do the right thing.”

Usually four or five rickshaws would be right in front of my house. I would say, “I need only one,” but each day at least four would be waiting. Then I had to choose among them. When I chose one, I got the ‘blessings’ from the others. They would say nasty things to me, and they were ready to beat up the one that I chose. But how could I take four rickshaws?

From:Sri Chinmoy,My express visit to India, Agni Press, 1995
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/evi