Gandhi was always renouncing things, so he said, “Why are they giving me these things? They only bind me, and I want to be free. I really want to give away most of these things; I want to give away anything that I don’t need.”
The wife and sons said, “We do need some things. Please do not give away everything.”
Then Gandhi saw that someone had given some very expensive and beautiful jewellery to his wife. “I can’t keep this,” he told her.
“This jewellery was given to me,” she said, “not to you.”
But Gandhi said, “It is because of me that they know you. Otherwise, they would not have given you this.”
The wife said, “Why did I come into your life? There are so many people on earth, but it is I who was chosen to be your wife. This kind of argument will never end. I won’t give up this jewellery.”
The children took the side of their father. “Because of Father you got the jewellery. Now you have to give it up.”
The wife became furious. “I won’t give it away.”
But Gandhi said, “Tomorrow I will take this expensive jewellery and sell it, and put the money in the bank. The money will be only for those who love their country and serve their country. They will take money from that bank and spend it to liberate their country, but not for anything else.”
The children again took their father’s side. “It is an excellent idea, Father! Let us do it!”
The wife said, “You fools! You are siding with your father, but I need this jewellery for you, for your wives. Your father gives away everything. What are you going to have for your own families?”
The children laughed and laughed. “We don’t have to think of that right now. It is too early.”
Finally Gandhi’s wife said, “All right, I don’t need it either. Since your father has renounced everything, I do not need this either.”
Gandhi said, “At last you have proved to be my real wife.”
GIM 167. 20 February 1979↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,Great Indian meals: divinely delicious and supremely nourishing, part 9, Agni Press, 1979
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/gim_9