He said to himself, "I am unemployed and have only one dollar left." Then he heard that somebody had a job for an old man — to be a gatekeeper. The person said that only an old man would be hired for this job and that the person would have to do next to nothing. It was the perfect job for an old man. The old man was so hopeful.
At that moment, a beggar came by and asked the old man for some money. The old man thought, "Tomorrow I have to look for a job. But now this beggar is here. What am I going to do?"
The old man could see from the beggar's face and eyes that he was famished. The old man thought, "All right. What can I do?" He gave half his dollar to the beggar saying, "Let us share equally. I am giving you half of my money, and I am keeping the other half."
The gatekeeper job that the old man was applying for was quite far from his house, so he took the bus. He thought he could ride the bus all the way there. Alas, the old man had gone only half-way, when the bus driver said, "Your ride is over here. Now you have to get off, because you only paid fifty cents." He had no more money, because he had given the beggar fifty cents the day before.
The old man started walking and walking. The place was still quite far away. His mind was saying, "Why did I give away my money to the beggar?" But his heart was very happy saying, "With my little money, just fifty cents, perhaps the beggar was able to get a sandwich." The mind said he did the wrong thing and heart said he did the right thing. A very nice argument was going on between the old man's mind and heart.
Just then, a middle-aged man approached the old man and said, "You are so old and so tired. What are you doing? You seem so exhausted; why are you walking? Please come and rest inside my house."
The old man said, "No. No. I have to go. I am looking for a job. Somebody told me that there is a gatekeeper job and they are looking for an old person to do it. That is why I am going there. I have such a long way still to go."
The other man said, "No! You do not have to go anywhere else. Come to my house. I will give you a job. But first, please eat. Every day you will come to my house and you will do a very simple job. By the way, where do you live?"
"I live quite far away from here."
"Do you have any relatives?"
"No, I do not have any relatives."
"Then my house is yours. You stay here. You are free to do whatever you want to do. You become the boss and keep the house clean in your own way. I have a big family, and I am taking you as our grandfather."
The old man said to his new boss, "Yesterday I gave fifty cents to a very poor man. I showed just a little kindness to a poor beggar. Today you have given me the whole world. You are inundating me with a sea of kindness, affection and love."From:Sri Chinmoy,The mind-jungles and the heart-gardens of life, Agni Press, 2001
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