The Master's smile

There was once a spiritual Master who had only thirty disciples. God had given him a good heart, but many people exploited his heart. He gave interviews to his disciples quite often. Always he used to console them and try to illumine their ignorance when they were mentally and vitally sick. But they did not appreciate his kindness, affection, compassion and love. They never expressed any gratitude either inwardly or outwardly, and they took everything he did for granted. He did not ask them for any kind of love-offering or contribution, and he never asked any fee for his interviews. Everything was free. He had a very small income from a source other than the spiritual life. It went on for years like this.

One day he was feeling sad and miserable because his light was not being properly accepted, and his disciples were not making satisfactory spiritual progress. So that night he had a talk with God. He said to God, "You know how much time I have been spending on these hopeless, useless, ungrateful people, but I am not getting anything done for You on earth. And when it is a matter of acknowledgement of the light inside me, not to speak of gratitude, I don't notice any response in my disciples or my friends and acquaintances. It seems that gratitude is not yet born on earth."

God smiled at him and said, "All right, I shall prove to you that gratitude does exist on earth. One day you will definitely come across people who will offer you gratitude."

The following morning the spiritual Master came out of his house and was walking to the park to meditate. On the way he happened to meet one of his insincere disciples. This woman said to the Master, "Master, I have a friend who has been dying to meet you. Could you spend some time with him? He is right now in my house, and that is very near. I know you don't drink coffee or tea, but I do have milk and juice to offer you. I shall be so happy, so grateful, so honoured, if you will come to my place and answer a few questions for this friend of mine."

It was a matter of a minute, so the Master did it. The woman's friend, a man, said to the Master, "Hello, how do you do?" The Master said, "Fine, thank you," and stretched out his hand. The gentleman shook hands with the Master. The Master gave him a smile and then suddenly left the house and went back to the park.

When the Master returned to his home two hours later, that particular disciple was waiting for him at the door. She said, "Master, Master, here is a ten-dollar bill. My friend said that your smile answered all his questions. You smiled at him for a brief second, but in that brief second all his lifelong questions were answered. This ten dollars he has given to you with utmost love and gratitude. He is a poor man; otherwise he would have given you much more money. He has told me to tell you that he is all gratitude and will be eternally grateful for your smile."

The Master thought of his conversation with God the previous night, when God had consoled him and assured him that gratitude did exist on earth. He began shedding tears of gratitude for his Inner Pilot. He was swimming in the sea of gratitude, and he said to his disciple, "It is not because of the ten dollars that I am all gratitude, but because of his receptivity — because one brief smile of mine could bring out such receptivity in him. His receptivity is drawing all my heart's gratitude towards him. The gratitude-flower, the dearest of all flowers, was born in the heart of a smile, a fleeting smile."

September 14, 1974

The Master's compassion cannot be bought

There was once a spiritual Master who had only twenty disciples. Most of his disciples were sincere, devoted and aspiring. Only two or three were very unspiritual and undivine. One of these unspiritual disciples used to come and cry before the Master twice a week. She was in her late sixties, and she happened to be the Master's oldest disciple in terms of age. She used to cry and cry, and when the Master asked her what was wrong, she always said, "Oh, one day I will tell you. One day I will tell you."

This went on for about a year and a half. Then one day she said, "I am really sorry to tell you that my husband has been very sick for the last few years. Now he has suffered a minor stroke; he can't move his right hand. When both of us were young, we were fond of each other, but now we hate each other. We are staying together just because society may laugh at us or condemn us if we leave each other. However, I do feel sad that my husband is suffering so much. If you can be of any help, please tell me."

The Master said, "I can be of no help to you. I could have been of help to you only if you yourself had been very spiritual and if your husband had been spiritual. But your husband has never even come to my house."

"Oh, spirituality is not meant for him," she said, "but I come here regularly."

"You come regularly, but your aspiration is not intense enough."

"But will you not see my husband once?" the disciple pleaded.

"Certainly I will see your husband. You can bring him to my house, and I will give him a short interview."

So the woman brought her husband to the Master. The Master, out of his sincere compassion, touched the man's right hand, and suddenly it moved a few times. The Master then caressed and massaged it, and to the disciple's astonishment, a little bit of life came into it. Both she and her husband were thrilled, and they left the Master's house very happy.

But this life-energy flowed for only a couple of hours. Then it went away, and again the hand did not function. The woman became very sad. The next time she was at the Master's house, she asked him, "How is it that your healing power does not last?"

The Master said, "God does not want to nullify your husband's previous karma, so I can't do anything more than that."

Three times she brought her husband, and each time the Master performed this kind of fleeting miracle. Always after that he said, "I can't do more, because it is not God's wish."

Both husband and wife became angry with the Master, but there was nothing they could do. Still the wife used to come regularly to the Master's house. She kept hoping that one day the Master would be really pleased with her and would cure her husband fully.

One day the wife came up with a brilliant plan which she thought might make the Master change his mind. She offered the Master a ten-dollar bill, and she made him feel that this was all she could afford; otherwise she would have given him much more. Another day, some time later, she put another ten-dollar bill into the Master's pocket. Then she did it once more. In this way, the Master got thirty dollars from her, which was all she had ever given him in the three years she had been his disciple. Her brother and sister disciples used to scorn her because they knew that she was very, very rich, and that her husband had been even richer once upon a time. Still they had thousands of dollars in the bank, but she would never put anything in the love-offering box. In any event, the Master kept telling her that her husband's karma was not going to be nullified.

Six months later the Master moved to a different town, and all of a sudden many, many seekers wanted to follow his path. In the course of three months the Master got thousands of disciples. When the woman saw that the Master had thousands of disciples, she thought that it would be impossible to try to get him to cure her husband. She thought to herself, "Even when he had twenty disciples I could not influence him. Even in those days it was difficult to approach him. Now that he has thousands of disciples, it will be simply useless. The best thing will be for me to give up his path." So the woman left the Master.

Now, it happened that her husband suffered a lot for some time, and then he passed away. Before she had left the Master's path, she had heard quite a few stories about how the Master had invoked and blessed the souls of departed human beings. This was all a matter of belief. There was a time when she believed all these stories, but now that she had left the Master, she no longer had faith in him. So she decided not to inform the Master that her husband had died.

This woman had an intimate friend who was still a disciple of the Master. Her friend said, "Now that the Master has thousands of disciples, he never pays attention to us. You left him because he did not pay attention to you, and I am also going to leave him very soon for the same reason. But I have a little faith in him and I feel that he does have the capacity to bring down peace to departed souls. I really feel that you should inform him about your husband's death."

"My husband has died and now he is in perfect peace. If the Master invokes my husband's soul, immediately life will enter into his soul and disturb him. Then he will feel miserable and all his peace will be ruined. Also, I feel that I will be under obligation to give the Master some money if he says that he has done something for my husband. First of all, I don't believe in this. And also, I am not prepared to give him any money, although you know I do have some money."

These two women were on very intimate terms, so the friend asked, "How much money do you actually have?"

She replied, "This is not the kind of thing to discuss right now. But since you are my friend, I will show you my bank book." In her savings account she had seventy-six thousand dollars.

Her friend looked as though she had dropped from Heaven, she was so surprised. "Seventy-six thousand dollars!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, and I am going to give all this money to a distant nephew. He deserves it. He is thinking of opening up a hospital for the poor. That is a good cause. But I am not going to give a cent to that rogue, that foreigner who was once my Master. Perhaps he will take all our money and go back to his native land, where he will act like a king. So the best thing is for me not to give him anything. And please, if you are my real friend, do not tell the Master that my husband has died. Otherwise, he will create problems for me and say he has done this and that for the departed soul of my husband, and I will be under obligation to give him money. But I do not want to have anything to do with him."

Now, the disciple who was still with the Master felt a kind of inner pang, an inner necessity and remorse. She said to herself, "My time is fast approaching, and I will also leave the Master soon. But as long as I am staying with him, I should be a little sincere. So let me tell him what has happened."

After the lady had told him the story, the Master said, "Even though she has no faith in me, just because I saw the man while he was on earth, I feel a kind of inner obligation to help him. In the outer world I am a beggar. But I know who I am in the inner world; in the inner world I am an emperor. Such being the case, it is my bounden duty to be of some service to this soul."

The lady said, "On the one hand I am very happy that I have told you, but on the other hand I am worried that what she said may be right. She said that if you invoke the soul, you will agitate the soul. And if something goes wrong with the soul, then what will happen?"

The Master laughed and laughed. He said, "If you doubt my spiritual capacity to such an extent, then you should not remain my disciple." That was the day the Master lost his second disciple, for this lady also left his path.

Meanwhile, the Master entered into the soul's world and helped the husband's soul considerably. The husband's soul was extremely grateful to the Master, and it came to the wife in a dream and said, "Your Master has helped me so much. He has lifted me to a very high plane. If he had not helped me, I could not have come to this place. Never, never, never! It is beyond my imagination. So I wish you to give him at least four thousand dollars out of the seventy-six thousand dollars that I left you. Poor man, I am sure he has no money. You give him four thousand dollars, and with the rest you can do whatever you want."

When the lady awoke, she immediately decided that the dream was all a mental hallucination, so she disregarded it. But the following day her husband's soul again came and gave her the same message. This went on for ten or eleven days, and the woman started becoming nervous and upset. She said to herself, "Oh, if this goes on every night, what will I do? For the last three or four days, he has come with such a threatening attitude. He told me, 'You have to give him the money; otherwise I will do something to you. I will punish you.'"

She was terribly frightened. She had left the Master's path about a year earlier, but now she came to the Master's new house and bowed down before him and cried and cried. "Is it true that my husband's soul has been coming to me? Was it right on your part to go to my husband and help him against my express will? I repeatedly asked my friend not to inform you. You have done me a favour against my will. You have played a trick on me, and now you want me to give you four thousand dollars. I have seventy-six thousand dollars, true, but I don't want to give you even one cent."

The Master said, "I did it out of sheer goodwill. I saw your husband while he was on earth, but I was not able to help him as much as I wanted because of his past undivine karma. But now that he is in the soul's world, I can help him in a different way. You don't have to give me a cent, though. I don't need or want your money."

"You do want something from me. Otherwise, you would not have helped my husband. In this world nobody helps others without a motive."

"Again and again I am telling you, I did it out of my goodwill. I do not need anything from you. When you used to come to my spiritual Centre, you never gave any indication that you had that much money. You gave me thirty dollars in three years' time. So how could it have been because of your money that I helped your husband? No! It was my compassion that helped your husband before, and it was my compassion that has helped him now. Did I ask your husband's soul to come and bother you at night?"

The disciple said, "If you are really not crying for money, then can you not do something for me? Can you not ask my husband's soul not to bother me any more? You know that I do not want to give you any money."

The Master said, "Certainly I can. I will ask your husband not to come and bother you."

That night the Master entered into the soul's world and said to the husband's soul, "Look what kind of problem you have created for me! I helped you and I am still ready to help you, just out of sheer goodwill, out of pure compassion. But your wife misunderstands me; she is scolding me and insulting me and finding fault with me. The best thing is for you not to go and bother her again or insist on her giving me four thousand dollars. I don't need anything. I don't work for money, I work out of love."

The husband's soul was seriously displeased. "Such an ungrateful wife I have! This time I am really going to punish her. I will bring beings from the vital world to threaten her and frighten her. Then she will be compelled to offer four thousand dollars at your feet. Let her do anything she wants to do with the rest of the money. But I should have asked her to give you more money. Please tell me if you need money. I can force her to give you even more money!"

"No, no, I do not need any money. Only your joy I need. You are happy here, so I am happy that I have been of some service to you."

But the husband said, "No, I am not going to listen to you. This time I am really going to do something to her. I will get some beings from the vital world and frighten her to such an extent that perhaps she will give you more than four thousand dollars."

The Master felt miserable, and he said, "Are you happy here in the soul's world where I have brought you?"

"I am so happy, so grateful."

"If you create any problem for your wife by bringing down beings from the vital world, or if you frighten her in any way, then I shall not allow you to remain in this plane. I shall take away my conscious force and light, and you will have to go back to a place much lower and far inferior to this place. You will have to return to where you were before I brought you here. Do you remember? There you had very little joy, very little satisfaction. God alone knows how many incarnations it would take you to come back to this place."

The soul said, "I really want to stay here, and I know that if I show you my most sincere gratitude, one day you will take me to a plane much higher even than this. So I leave it up to you and God to do whatever you want to do with my wife."

The Master said, "I leave your wife with God. He knows what is best for her. He knows what is best for you. He knows what is best for me. At this point, let us each go in our own way. But if you need my help, you can call upon me, and I shall definitely help you in every possible divine way. Your wife I place at the Feet of the Lord Supreme."

September 14, 1974

A seeker's gratitude

There was a spiritual Master who had only forty disciples. He was very proud of his disciples because all of them were sincere and devoted. Not even one disciple was insincere. He felt really sorry for other spiritual Masters who had undivine disciples, but was very grateful to God that He had granted him such spiritual, devoted, divine disciples. He thanked God from the bottom of his heart.

The Master was extremely kind to his spiritual children, and they were also most generous to the Master. They took care of the Master's physical needs, as he took care of their inner, spiritual needs.

Every evening the Master used to allow his disciples to come and meditate with him. Either he would stand in front of them or he would ask them to come and stand in front of him. He used to bless all the disciples and give them flowers. Since there were only forty disciples, it took him three hours. Afterwards they used to eat together and talk far into the night. Then again the following evening they would gather. This way it went on for months and months.

In those days, the Master used to allow anybody to come and meditate at his home. No permission was needed. One day a young lady who was absolutely a newcomer appeared at the Master's house. As usual, the Master came up to all those present and gave either a beautiful rose or some other flower to each one. When the Master came to offer the flower to this particular lady, she burst into tears. The Master asked, "May I know what is bothering you?"

She said, "It is something very secret and private. I cannot tell you here."

"All right," said the Master, "after the meeting you may tell me if you want to."

During the whole meeting this lady kept crying and sobbing. After some time the Master said to her quietly, "Please, please come into the kitchen and tell me what is bothering you. I fully sympathise with you, and if I can be of any help to you I shall definitely do what I can. But my disciples are now meditating most devotedly and soulfully. Please stop crying and sobbing so that you will not disturb them."

In this way the Master pleaded with her, and finally she came with him into the kitchen. There she fell at his feet and said, "Master, I am unmarried, and I am pregnant, and now that rogue has deserted me! Save me, save me! I come of a very respectable family. Please save me!"

Now it was time for the Master to burst into tears. "What am I going to do?" he said.

"You can do anything if you want to," said the lady. "I know spiritual Masters can do all kinds of things. Please save me! I don't dare tell my parents what has happened."

The Master said, "This kind of sad story pains my heart deeply. Now that I know what is causing your suffering, I will definitely refer the matter to the Supreme. I have no idea what He is going to do. It is up to Him to decide what He wants to do with your life. But please do me a favour. If you want to meditate here, either stay in the kitchen or come back into the meditation hall and meditate in silence. Please do not cry anymore."

Immediately the lady said, "Will you really refer the matter to the Supreme?"

The Master said, "Certainly I will. But I have no idea what His decision will be. That I do not know."

She was so grateful to the Master. She said, "If you just refer it to Him, that is enough."

The Master went back to the meditation room and meditated with his disciples. They knew nothing about this conversation. They were all happy and deeply moved by the aspiration of this newcomer who had cried and cried. They thought that the reason she had burst into tears was that she was receiving the Master's light and blessing much more than anybody else. Afterwards, while they were having refreshments, the disciples asked, "How is it, Master, that while that lady was crying and sobbing out of sheer devotion, you had to ask her to come into the kitchen? Is there anything wrong with her?"

The Master said, "These are private matters. I don't want to discuss them with you."

"It is something private? Then it has nothing to do with her spiritual life?"

The Master said, "Is there anything that is not related to the spiritual life? Everything is spiritual here on earth. Only we have to know how we relate to God and what attitude we have when we offer each action of ours at the Feet of the Supreme." After the Master gave his philosophy, they all kept quiet.

The Master did refer this matter to his superior, the Lord Supreme, as he had promised. The Supreme said, "Now that you have told Me, it is enough: you will have nothing more to do with it. You won't take any side. Now that I know, it is up to Me to show this young lady any kindness or compassion. Of course, you know whether I am going to help her or not, for I cannot hide anything from you, just as you cannot hide anything from Me. Since we cannot hide anything from each other, you will know what I am going to do, but it is not your business to become involved in this matter." So the Master kept quiet and offered his devoted obedience to the Supreme Pilot.

The following day that particular lady did not come to the Master. In fact, for one, two, three months she did not come to the Master at all. For about three months the Master thanked God that she had not returned. Nobody asked the Master about her, and hers became a totally forgotten story. But after three months, one day when the Master came home, he saw that particular lady at his door. The Master got a terrible shock. He said to himself, "Now what kind of calamity, what kind of sad news will she bring this time?" But this time it was a different story that the lady had to tell.

She placed forty-five or fifty checks at the feet of the Master, and then she said to him, "My life is eternally grateful to you. You have saved me, you have saved my happiness, you have saved my prestige. My parents know nothing, and now I am still their dearest child. My friends and relatives know nothing about it either. I know what actually happened, Master. You saved me."

The Master said, "What happened?"

"I went to the doctors who had said that I was pregnant, and this time they said that they had been totally mistaken. I know what you did for me. You used your spiritual and occult power, and you did something.

"Master, I come of a rich family, but I do not have money myself. My parents do not give me money. But I have gone to various small stores — to hairdressers, boutiques and many, many places — and I have told them all one thing. I have said, 'I have seen a spiritual Master. I can't even begin to tell you how great he is, how kind and compassionate he is, but he has helped me so much in this life that I am all gratitude to him. Please kindly give me a check for two or three dollars that I can offer to him. I promise you that my Master will receive this money. I won't use the money.' People saw in my face and in my heart my real love and devotion for you, Master, and they gave me checks for two dollars, four dollars, ten dollars, fifteen, twenty, even thirty dollars. In this way I have collected almost four hundred dollars, Master. Now I am giving you this with my heart's deepest gratitude, eternal gratitude. You have saved me; you have saved my life. But you know, Master, I am not ready for spirituality, not to speak of your path, which is so pure, so divine, so high. When my hour comes, I am sure I will be able to be your disciple. But right now, I am not fit for the spiritual life. How I wish I could be ready for your path!"

The Master said, "How do you know that you are not ready for spiritual life? You are more than ready to follow my path. I will accept you wholeheartedly."

But the woman said, "Master, I know my weaknesses, my shortcomings, my limitations, my attachment to earthly life, to the pleasure-life. Why should I exercise your compassion by staying with you and accepting your path? I know there will come a day, by your divine grace, when I will be ready for your spiritual path. When that day comes I will know it, and I will definitely come and sit at your feet. I am sure you will accept me. But, in the meantime, what I am giving you in the form of this offering is a token of my eternal gratitude. Please feel that my life is a garland of gratitude placed at your feet."

The Master shed tears of gratitude. He said to the seeker, "Well, you feel that you are not ready. I wish to say that you are more than ready. But since it is your life, since you feel that there will come a time when you will be more ready, I shall wait for that hour. Take your time. May God bless you. May He shower His deepest and choicest blessings upon your heart of inner cry and your life of unalloyed sincerity."

September 14, 1974

The height of ingratitude

There was once a spiritual Master who had only one hundred disciples. Most of his disciples were affectionate to him and very fond of him. The Master was also very affectionate to them and fond of them, but he had special concern for those who were comparatively weak and insecure, and who felt that their lives were useless.

There was one particular disciple, a lady of about fifty-five, who was very insecure. Apart from that, she had some trouble in one of her lungs. So the Master had special concern for her. She had been to many, many doctors, but the doctors could not cure her. From time to time, she used to receive the Master's light, and then she felt a little better. But when she did not receive his light, she suffered greatly. Sometimes she could not sleep because of her weak lung, and the Master had to give her occult advice on the physical plane about how to fall asleep. She would then be able to sleep for a few days, but soon again she would suffer. The Master was all compassion for this lady, but he knew that her suffering would come to an end only if he were allowed to tell her frankly the reason for it. She used to say to him, "Please be frank with me and tell me why I am suffering so much."

The Master asked God if he could tell the lady why she had developed a weak lung. But God said to him, "If you tell her why she is suffering, she will leave you tomorrow."

The Master replied, "Do I need her?"

"True, you do not need her," said God. "But if she stays with you, if she continues to come to you for spiritual guidance, there is some hope that one day she will really receive your light in abundant measure. Then you will be able to cure her lung. But if you tell her that she is suffering because of her emotional life, her lower vital life, and that she has to give up this life, will she be able to do that? Right now she is leading a double life, true. She is fifty-five years old and unmarried, but she is living in the emotional world. If you tell her to lead a pure life and give up all her vital relationships, it will be impossible for her to do so. She will only give up her spiritual life. So the best thing is to ignore that and try to help her as much as you can. You know how much she suffers because of her emotional life."

The Master said, "Just because she suffers from her emotional life, it would be wise for me to tell her frankly the cause of her suffering — even though I will be acting like a butcher."

God became very stern and said to the Master, "Don't act against My Will. You must never tell her why she is suffering. Only give her whatever light you can. That is what I want from you."

The Master immediately surrendered to God's Will and said, "Certainly."

The Master continued showing utmost compassion to this lady. He knew that if one suffers from this kind of lung ailment, it is best for that person to do very light work. So he made her his gardener and gave her a little bit of secretarial work. Sometimes he asked her to arrange interviews for him, to take attendance at the spiritual meetings and to take notes at various activities.

The Master also used to encourage her to be in the flower-world. In the back of his mind, he cherished the idea that if she remained in the flower-world, some purity would dawn in her, and she would want to lead a better life. Of course, this idea was absurd. If it were likely to happen, gardeners and florists would generally become first-class pure souls. One may touch flowers and smell their fragrance, but one's mind may still remain in the gutter. But since flowers embody purity, the Master was hoping against hope that the flowers might create some purity in her heart, in her mind and in her physical existence.

This went on for some time. The lady was suffering and the Master was suffering. One day she said to one of the Master's dearest disciples, "This Master is no good. He has no spiritual power, no occult power, nothing, nothing, nothing! I believed in him. At times I secretly used to call him 'Father', and on Father's Day I gave him a note saying, 'Fathers come and fathers go, but here is a father who will not leave me even if I want to leave him. He is my eternal Father, my Eternity's Father'. Now I see that what I thought of him was all wrong.

"If my physical father had had any capacity, if he had had money, he would have given me anything I asked for, if he could. I called this man my father, but he won't help me. Either he does not have the capacity, or he has the capacity but will not use it for me. My feeling is that he does not have the capacity. Why should I think of the other possibility? He does not have the capacity, so the best thing is for me to leave him and look for another Master."

When the disciple told this to the Master, the Master said, "I am so happy to hear this. If she leaves me, I will be the happiest person. I have suffered and she has suffered, and I can't help her anymore."

The disciple asked, "Why can't you help her any more?"

"I just can't," replied the Master. "The capacity that God has given me is very limited. I can't be of any further help to her."

That night God came to the Master and said, "The time has come for you to tell your disciple that you are unable to cure her because of her vital life."

The Master told God all that he had heard from the woman's friend. God laughed and laughed and said, "I am telling you that the time has now come. Tell her tomorrow."

Since this lady was close to the Master, he sent for her the next day and she came to work in his garden. In those days, the Master did not have so many close disciples to cook for him, and he himself rarely cooked — perhaps once a year. But on that day the Master felt an overwhelming compassion enter into his life. Since he had been commanded by his boss, the highest Supreme, to drop the atom bomb, he felt that the best thing was to console the lady in advance. First he would show her a sea of affection and concern.

So the Master himself cooked a meal of eatable or uneatable food, but with utmost love, concern and compassion. He made a few dishes and then invited the disciple to come and eat with him in the kitchen. The disciple was so grateful; she was full of overwhelming gratitude. She said to the Master, "Today you are showing me such affection, such concern, such compassion. How is it that you are still not curing me? You know how I suffer. Even last night, I suffered so much." The Master immediately thought of what God had told him to do and he said, "How do you expect me to cure you when you know perfectly well what kind of life you are leading. You are leading a very impure life."

"Ha!" cried the disciple, flying into a rage. She stood up and, in doing so, brushed aside a tumbler, which fell on the floor and broke. What a scene she created! "This has been in the back of your mind! This has been going on in your thoughts! You know what kind of life I have been leading –- the purest! I am a spinster. I never got married, but came to you to realise God instead. And now today, after so many years, you are telling me this! Is there any disciple of yours who is as pure as I am?"

The Master laughed and laughed and said, "Is there any disciple of mine who is as hypocritical as you are? If my other disciples lead an undivine life, they tell me everything. Even on the physical plane they tell me. I don't have to concentrate on the inner plane to know what is happening on the physical, vital and emotional planes in their lives. They make their lives an open book for me. But for the last three years you have been deceiving me. For some time God has asked me not to tell you, because if I had told you, you would have left our path long ago. But now God has asked me to be brutally frank with you. So I am telling you."

"Stay with your God! I don't need you and I don't need your God. Only this much I can say: you are one hundred per cent wrong!"

The Master became furious and said, "Whom are you trying to deceive? You can deceive the whole world, but not me. Six days ago, who was buzzing at your door around three o'clock in the morning? Was it not your boyfriend? You did not open the door even though he was buzzing and buzzing. Why? Just because I was illumining your soul. I was trying to bring your soul's light into your vital life, your emotional life, and you saw me inwardly. The following day you came up to me and said, 'Master, I saw you in a dream. You were so beautiful, so luminous! I was so delighted to see you at my place.' I gave you a smile. Have you forgotten the incident? Because my soul's light had entered into your soul, you were so moved that you did not respond to your boyfriend. What were you going to do with your boyfriend at that hour? Why did he come?"

"Oh, oh, my boyfriend, he came…He doesn't live here. He lives somewhere else. He went to a movie and he was drunk. And he was lost and he couldn't go home, so he thought that if he could spend…"

"I know, I know, I know all those kinds of stories. I am simply telling you why God did not want me to tell the reason I could not cure you. He knew that the day I became frank with you, I would lose you. But God does not want you to stay on my path any more. Now he wants you to leave me, for you are a hopeless case. You have to go in your own way, and I have to go with my disciples in my own way. So now you can go. The time has come. Don't deceive me any more."

She left, but her anger did not leave her, and she wanted to punish the Master. The Master had quite a few spiritual Centres, and he went to visit one of his Centres which was two thousand miles away. On his return, he received a most painful shock. This ex-disciple had gotten her boyfriend, who was a notorious fellow, to employ two rogues. In the Master's absence these men had broken the Master's door, entered his house, caused tremendous damage in the Master's bedroom and meditation room and stolen many expensive things.

The Master was shocked. He thought of phoning this ex-disciple to show a little bit of his occult capacity, but his boss, the Supreme, his Eternal Beloved, said, "It is beneath your dignity to deal with these people according to their own standard. When you become frank with people, unless they are really sincere, unless they really want to accept the spiritual life, all their animal qualities come forward. I warned you long before. For three years I warned you. Then I agreed to your proposal because I felt that since it was a hopeless case, let the disciple leave you. This is the last punishment, the last suffering, that you will have because of her. Now your story with that particular disciple will be over." And the Master's story with that particular disciple really did end. The Supreme, as usual, was right.

Try to illumine ignorance; be kind, be affectionate, be full of concern, go out of your way at every second to illumine an undivine human being, and in return you get your house robbed! Then you have to work hard to get things replaced. What else is the height of ingratitude, if not this? This is life. First the dog barks and then, when barking is not enough, it bites you to such an extent that you may die. But if God's Protection, God's Compassion and God's Light work in and through you, then you can easily survive the dog's bite, as the Master easily did.

September 14, 1974

Sincerity wins the case

There was once a spiritual Master who, although he had realised God many years ago, did not have even one disciple. He had a few friends and admirers, however.

One day he went to the home of a great lawyer with a few of his admirers. The lawyer was very kind and nice to the spiritual Master, although he did not care for spirituality at all. The lawyer did not want to be ridiculed by others for having no knowledge of spirituality, so just because the spiritual Master's friends were all acquainted with spirituality, and also out of sheer curiosity, he asked the spiritual Master to teach him how to meditate. He said that he would be extremely glad and grateful if the Master could give him some result from meditation as well.

The Master was kind enough to say to the lawyer, "I shall teach you all about spirituality. Come with me, and let us walk for a while." To his friends, the Master said, "Please wait here. We will go out for a walk, but we shall soon come back."

While walking the Master said only a few words to the lawyer. The Master was in a very high, contemplative mood and the lawyer was very unspiritual, very ordinary. He practised law well, but the life of spirituality was not meant for him, at least not at that time. So the Master was able to give him only a little bit of peace, a very little bit of peace, just because he was not prepared to receive more.

After a while they came back to the lawyer's home, where everyone was ready for luncheon. When they entered the house, the lawyer immediately burst into tears and exclaimed, "Oh, for the first time in this life I have seen a spiritual Master! He gave me such peace! I meditated so well that I am full of peace and light inside. All my life I have been practising law, but now I see that it is all deception, deception. Real Light has now entered into my life." The lawyer showed the Master tremendous gratitude because, he said, he had received so much from him.

The lawyer's three daughters were deeply moved by their father's divine tears, and the lawyer's wife was also moved. Outwardly, the friends of the spiritual Master seemed very happy with the lawyer's achievement. But inwardly they felt, "This spiritual Master has been our friend for such a long time, but he has not given us any joy, he has not given us any spiritual light. He has not shown us any of his capacity to offer these things." So inwardly they were angry with the spiritual Master. But they did feel that the lawyer had received something, so they thought that if they became sincere they would also get something from the spiritual Master.

But the Master knew how little he had been able to give to this lawyer. Hearing the lawyer's exaggeration, the Master felt sad because of his insincerity.

The years passed by, and the Master did not come in contact with the lawyer any more. By this time the Master had become well-known. He had hundreds and thousands of disciples. One day it happened that a friend of the Master's invited the Master and a few seekers to come to his home. The friends of the Master were very happy and proud that he had become spiritually well-known, and that he had come as their old friend.

It happened that the same lawyer was there with his wife, but now he was old. As soon as the lawyer's wife saw the spiritual Master, she was thrilled. She said to him, "I received a letter last week from my daughter Judy. She recently saw you at a university. There were about five hundred people there. She was so deeply moved. She listened to your talk and said you had illumined her life. Afterwards she had a vision of you, and she was full of joy and bliss. This is what you have given to her."

When the Master had gone to the lawyer's house several years before, the girls had not cared for the spiritual life at all, and they had no questions to ask the Master. On the contrary, they had enjoyed a kind of silly amusement when they saw the spiritual Master. So the Master was a little surprised. He said, "But she did not come up to me after the talk?"

"She felt that you would not have recognised her, but she recognised you, because you have now become great, very great. Fifteen years ago when you came to our house, you were obscure, therefore she paid no attention to you. Now you have become great, and greatness demands adoration and admiration.”

While this was going on, the lawyer and the Master's friends were all having a wonderful evening. They spoke about many spiritual Masters and spiritual subjects. The conversation was most delightful. All of a sudden, the lawyer said to those present, "Look at this spiritual Master!" Then he turned to the Master and said, "You know that many years ago I asked you how to meditate. Believe me, the meditation I had while walking with you still remains in my mind and heart. That was the most significant experience I have ever had. Since then I have meditated hundreds of times, in many places. But I have never since had such a high experience."

The Master inwardly saw that the lawyer's words were once again mere flattery. Now that the Master had become really well-known, the lawyer wanted to exploit his capacity, generosity and compassion by showing the Master's friends and admirers that he had known the Master many years before and that the Master had come to his home.

The Master felt sad and miserable, and he said to the lawyer, "Please follow me." They went to a secluded place, where the Master said, "Please allow me to meditate on you."

The lawyer was tremendously moved that the Master had picked him out of so many people. He was simply overwhelmed with joy and pride. The Master meditated for ten minutes, and during this time a young boy of eighteen or nineteen was watching the Master's meditation with grateful tears rolling down from his eyes. This boy was swimming in the sea of joy and gratitude because he was now able to see this Master face to face. He had seen the spiritual Master five or six times while listening to his lectures and he had wanted to become a disciple of the Master. He had written a letter, but the Master had not answered. When he did not get a reply to his letter, he thought it meant that the Master's path was not meant for him, so he started looking for other spiritual figures and finally he became a disciple of somebody else. But now, in this Master, he saw something of his own, his very own. He could not check his emotion; he burst into tears.

Hearing the boy crying and weeping, the lawyer became furious and said, "You get away from here! You are ruining my meditation. This Master wants to give me something very high, and all you are doing is crying. Leave us alone. Get away from here!"

The Master felt miserable for this boy, because he knew that he was very, very sincere, and he looked at the boy with much love and compassion. The boy fell flat on the ground at the Master's feet and the Master blessed him.

Then the boy left, so the lawyer could again receive peace and light from the Master. This time the Master was able to give much more to the old man — not because the old man had developed more receptivity, not because of his genuine spirituality, but because he had real reverence and admiration for the Master, since now the Master had thousands of disciples.

After the meditation, the lawyer went back to the room where the others were chatting and said, "Today I have really received something. I have had an experience that can never be surpassed by any other experience of mine. Today your friend the Master has given me real peace, boundless light. All my life I have cried for peace and suffered for want of peace, but I have received this peace today. He has given me this peace, and it will remain forever and forever inside my mind and heart, along with my overflowing gratitude to him."

The Master once more felt miserable because the lawyer's speech was again all deception. No doubt this time the lawyer had received much more from the Master, but to say that his whole being was surcharged with peace and light and that his heart was overflowing with gratitude, was a tremendous exaggeration. The Master said to himself, "Now what can I do with this man? If he had been really sincere, I could have done so much, so much for him." The Master was really sad.

Before his wife and all their friends, the old lawyer sat right in front of the Master and said, "Please place your hand on my head. This is my only desire today. If you do this, I will really be blessed, and I will feel that my life has been blessed by somebody who is really great in the spiritual life, somebody who is a true messenger of peace and light on earth."

The Master, quite helpless, placed his hand on the old man's head, although he knew that the lawyer actually wanted his blessings only so that others would appreciate his spiritual depth. While placing his hand on the lawyer's head, the Master put a tremendous force on him so that he would immediately develop tremendous sincerity. The Master did make him absolutely sincere, and blessed him with all his heart's inner love and light.

This time the lawyer said to the gathering, "Fifteen years ago, when I told you I had received infinite light, I was badly exaggerating. I received very little. A few minutes ago when I said that I received, I was again exaggerating, although I did receive much more than the first time. But now I have really received peace, light and bliss in abundant measure. It is my sincerity speaking this time. You can ask the Master if what I am saying is true.”

The Master said, "Yes, sincerity has won in the battlefield of your life-struggle."

The old man said, "Something else: my life of ever-increasing gratitude has triumphed over my life of shameless ingratitude."

September 16, 1974

The money-mantra

Once there was a spiritual Master who had only ten or twelve disciples, and among those there were only two or three who were really aspiring. He had one particular disciple who used to talk a great deal. She used to tell the Master how he could become very rich on the material plane, and she was always crying for money and material wealth herself.

She also cared much for physical beauty, although she was on the wrong side of fifty. She wanted to show others that she was not old, but quite young. She sometimes wanted to surpass her own daughters in beauty, and she used to compete with them. The daughters were shocked that their mother was competing with them in beauty, and all the time they either laughed at her or showed sympathy to her.

The girls had a brother who had been sent to war, for the country was fighting against another country. The mother used to cry and cry to the Master, "Please, please, save my son! My son is in the war. How I wish he would come back safe!"

"Well, the day I accepted you, I accepted all your problems," said the Master. "So don't worry. Your son will come back safe when the war ends."

The war ended, and the son did come back safely. The mother was so grateful to the Master. The Master was happy, not because she was grateful, but because he had been able to keep his word: the son had come back safely.

Now this lady wanted to become rich, richer, richest. She wanted to compete with her friends, who were really rich, so she begged the Master to give her a special mantra. Another disciple who happened to be there at the time said, "If the Master really had a special mantra, do you not think that he would have used it to make himself rich? He is so badly in need of money and material things."

The Master gave her a smile and said "Yes, yes, you are right."

Another disciple stood up and said to the woman, "Oh no, no; it is beneath his dignity to pray to God for money. God has given him inner wealth, and inner wealth is more important. Outer wealth is not necessary for spiritual Masters. That is why he does not ask for it. Although he himself does not need it or care for it, he can give it to someone else if he is pleased with that person. If someone needs and wants material wealth, perhaps the Master will give it."

The Master gave her the broadest smile and said, "That is absolutely true. I know certain mantras which do have the power to give material wealth. If it is the Will of the Supreme, I will give these mantras. They have been used by many people, and these people have all achieved success, provided they repeated the mantras sincerely and devotedly. And also, the Masters themselves put added spiritual power into the mantras; otherwise people will not have faith in the mantras and will take them as mere words without any power. The Masters give life to those mantras with their own spiritual light. So, if they give the mantras, people can become very rich. In my case, if God wants me to give those particular mantras, I can give them. If not, I will never, never be able to give them."

The lady in question immediately folded her hands and said to the Master in front of the others, "Master, Master, I am so grateful to you. You have brought my son home safe. Now, you know I have been praying to you inwardly and outwardly to make me richer. And I am so sincere, you know. I never feel ashamed of asking for these kinds of things in front of others. Look at my sincerity, look at my need!

"Now you know, Master, I give you only five dollars a week. I make fifty dollars a week, and I give you five dollars. You know that when I become rich, I will give you the same percentage. I will always give you ten percent of my income. So, Master, make me rich, make me rich, and I will also make you rich, I know you don't feel like working in the outer world, and why should you? But I see you need material things to lead a decent life. So, Master, please make me rich, make me rich. I am a secretary and I am fond of decorating houses. Some people call me an interior decorator, although that is not actually true. But by your grace I can do many things. If you will give me the mantra, I will definitely become rich and give up my secretarial job and decorating work. I will become totally spiritual. I will always pray and meditate."

"Then why do you need money?" asked the Master.

"I need a big house full of many things so that I won't have to worry," replied the lady. "To get money now, I have to work very, very hard. If I had a lot of money, I wouldn't have to work very hard and I could devote all my time to the spiritual life, which is the only thing I need. I really want God. But before I can think of God and pray to God, I need some time. And if I have money, then only will I have time."

The Master said, "All right, come with me, and I will give you this mantra."

She said, "I am so grateful to you, Master, for what you have already done for me. But when I become really rich, I will be extremely and eternally grateful to you."

Some people laughed and laughed, while others became very jealous. The Master said, "My inner being is telling me to give you this mantra, so I am giving it to you. Let us see what happens."

So she got the mantra in private, and in three weeks' time she won $23,000 in the lottery. Then she spent six months travelling around the world, thinking about what to do with her money. But when she thought of giving ten percent to the Master, she was literally ready to faint.

Her daughters had come to know of her promise, and they reminded her of it. They said, "Please give the Master some money, at least, because you repeated his mantra."

"What is this mantra?" said the mother. "It is just one or two words. Do those words have any value?"

"All right, the words do not have any value. But perhaps it was the power he put inside the words that made you win the money."

"No, no, that is wrong, absolutely wrong! It was my fate. God was kind to me, so I got it. It was just luck. It had nothing to do with the Master, nothing to do with his mantra."

The daughters said, "You are so ungrateful!" She gave them a slap and said, "You are going to teach me about gratefulness and ungratefulness? I know what he has done for me. He saved my son; it is true. He was nice to me, kind to me. He used to console me when you girls created problems for me. At that time I was grateful to him. But this time it was not his mantra which brought me the money; it was only God. So I don't have to be grateful to him. I am grateful only to God. And I am grateful to the people in charge of the lottery, who have given me the money. It is they who deserve my gratitude, not the Master. I don't have to be grateful to him at all."

Needless to say, she left the Master, and she left her son and daughters as well.

September 16, 1974

Gratitude I get when I don't deserve it, and ingratitude I get when I don't deserve it

There lived a spiritual Master who had only very few disciples. One day a young disciple of his came to him sad and depressed. When the Master asked him the reason for his sadness, the young man said, "I am fed up with my sister, Reva. She always bothers me. She has a boyfriend who is a scoundrel. He has many girlfriends, and my sister is one of them. When he neglects my sister, she feels sad and miserable. She has to tell me all her pathetic stories. Needless to say, I sympathise with her, but my sympathy never solves her problems. Repeatedly I have asked her to put an end to this useless friendship. But she finds it very difficult to listen to me. At the same time, I find it very difficult to hear all her stories about her boyfriend. You know, Master, how they lower my consciousness. They literally ruin my aspiration. Master, please save me from my sister, and save my sister from her boyfriend."

The Master asked the disciple, "Tell me, Gokul, is your sister's boyfriend very rich?"

"Yes, Master, he is very rich. He comes from a very rich family. But I don't think it is his money which makes her cry for him."

"Then, what is it?" the Master asked.

"Well, he has many good qualities. He is very kindhearted. He teaches at a college and he is very intelligent. Recently he won an academic prize in English literature."

The Master said, "I see, I see." Then the Master closed his eyes and concentrated for a few minutes. When he opened his eyes, he said, "I see clearly that your sister is going to get this young man. Within a year they will get married, and your sister will offer a large amount of money to our ashram."

"But my sister does not care for you or for the spiritual life," said Gokul.

"True, she does not care for the spiritual life or for me, but she will think that I have something to do with her getting this young man, although I tell you plainly that I am not going to do anything for your sister in this matter. I have not come into the world to do this kind of thing. But what I see occultly, I am telling you."

"But Master, you do not give importance to predictions. How is it that today you are predicting something? Of course, I am extremely grateful to you."

"True, my son, I do not give importance to predictions, but every rule admits of exception. Here is an unusual exception."

"Master, please tell me why you do not give importance to predictions."

"Gokul, you have no idea how many problems predictions can create. If you read my books you will be able to know all about it. But you know that it is not because your sister will give me money in the future that I am predicting this, but just because she has suffered so much from her boyfriend. It is an act of supreme kindness that her soul has requested me to do; therefore, I am fulfilling her soul's request. Gokul, you go home now and tell your sister that she will definitely get this man. In a week's time she will hear from him, and from then on they will be very, very close to each other, and finally they will get married."

Gokul ran for home. On entering, he found his sister in the living room, sad and depressed, looking at a photograph of her boyfriend. Her brother gave her the happy news about herself and her boyfriend.

Upon hearing the Master's message from Gokul, Reva was overjoyed. She said to her brother, "I tell you, the day I get married to him, I shall offer your Master ten thousand dollars! Although he has told you that he will have nothing to do with our marriage — that is, he will not apply his spiritual power to bring about our marriage — still I feel in my heart that he will definitely do something. Otherwise, I don't think I would ever get this boyfriend as my future husband."

Gokul said, "Reva, I can tell you only this much — that my Master's prediction can never go wrong."

Reva said, "I know, I know. I can feel it."

The following day when Gokul went to his Master's ashram, he had a very happy heart because he had been able to make his sister happy by the Master's grace. But when he told the Master about his sister's promise, to his wide surprise and sorrow, he saw that the Master became very sad. He asked his Master why he was so sad and depressed.

His Master said, "Well, I shall get your sister's money, no doubt, but I shall lose you." Gokul was overwhelmed by this dire pronouncement from his Master. "How can it be? I shall never leave you on my own, Master, and I hope you will never ask me to leave you."

The Master said, "I see that it is predestined. But let us forget about it now. Let me not suffer now for my future loss. Everything is predestined. What can I do?"

"Master, I am sure you are cutting jokes with me. This can never happen," said Gokul. The Master gave him a broad smile.

"I knew it, I knew it," Gokul said to the Master. "You were cutting jokes with me."

Seven months later Reva and the professor got married. Reva did not forget to fulfil her promise to her brother. She had already told her husband many, many striking things about her brother's spiritual Master. After the wedding the professor said to his wife, "Who knows, perhaps one day both of us will care for the spiritual life. Right now we are not ready for it, but I also strongly feel that your brother's Master is responsible for our marriage. To be very frank with you, after he told your brother about our future, I started developing a special kind of love for you which I did not have before. Gradually and gradually my love for you developed to such an extent that I discarded all my other girlfriends. Now you see we have become one, inseparably one. I am sure it is all his doing. I am extremely grateful to that spiritual Master."

Reva was overwhelmed with joy, and said to her husband, "Let us keep my promise to this spiritual Master."

The professor said, "Of course. Today we were married. I will get the money, and we will give it to your brother to bring to his Master. On this very day let us offer the ten thousand dollars to Gokul's Master and fulfil your promise."

They gave the money to Gokul. Alas, an undivine thought entered his mind. He was overcome by temptation. Ten thousand dollars in cash he had never seen in his life. He argued with himself, "The Master made it very clear to me that he had nothing to do with this marriage. It was a mere prediction. Such being the case, he does not deserve this money. I need money badly. I shall give him five thousand, and the other five thousand I shall keep for myself. After all, it was I who told him about my sister. Had it not been for me, he would not even have known about my sister. Then the question of prophecy would not have arisen, not to mention ten thousand actual dollars from my sister and her husband. I have an excellent plan. Let me go away with this money to a far-off country and open a most lucrative business. And in a few years' time I shall offer my Master not ten thousand dollars, but one hundred thousand dollars. But of course, if I tell Master, I am sure he will not approve of my plan. The best thing will be for me to just go away without seeing him at all."

Gokul decided to leave immediately. He flew to a country thousands of miles away from his home to escape the Master and his sister and her husband.

The Master had learned from Gokul himself on what day his sister was to get married. The Master expected Gokul to come to his place with some good news at least, although he clearly saw with his occult vision that it was a fateful if not fatal day for his disciple. He had already warned him, "To please the sister, I lose the brother."

But on that same day something happened to the professor. Towards evening on his wedding day the name of the Master was haunting him. Some sweet feeling he could not outwardly account for was inside him. He felt that it was definitely some inner peace and light that he was feeling inside. The following day he said to his wife, "Reva, I must go and see Gokul's spiritual Master today. I am getting so much inner joy and peace. I am sure it is all from him. Let me go and offer him my heart's deepest gratitude personally."

Reva said, "I believe you, I believe you. Let me also go with you."

So both of them went to the spiritual Master's ashram. The professor said to the Master, "Revered Master, yesterday, as a token of our deepest gratitude, we sent you a small gift through Gokul. Today we have come to offer you our heart's deepest gratitude for what you have done for us."

The Master said to them, "Gokul? Where was Gokul yesterday? He didn't come to my place at all. I thought he was very busy at your wedding and couldn't make it."

Both Reva and her husband were astonished to hear this. They couldn't believe that Gokul could be so dishonest. "Gokul, my brother Gokul, has not come to you with our gift? Let us search for him!" cried Reva.

The Master said, "Wait, Reva. Let me concentrate. Let me use my occult power and find out where he is." The Master concentrated for a few minutes, then said, "Alas, alas! He is now on his way to India. In a few hours he will reach India. He thinks that I do not deserve this money because I have not done anything for you. I just made a mere prediction. He feels it is he who deserves the money, because he told me about your problems and enabled me to make the prediction. And he is justifying his behaviour by telling himself that I will be more grateful to him if, in later years, he brings me much more than ten thousand dollars from his business in India."

Both the professor and his wife could hardly believe their ears. But at the same time they could not doubt the spiritual Master at all. Some disciples who were nearby listening to this astonishing story said, "Are you sure, Master? This is so unlike Gokul."

The Master became furious and said, "You rascals! You have been with me for so many years! Some of you have been with me for ten years, and still you doubt me! But look at these newcomers. They have not even accepted our path. They have just come today. Look how easily they have believed me, how sincerely they have believed. I tell you, it is not how many years you stay with me or how spiritually developed and mature you are. At any moment temptation can take you away. Look at Gokul. He has left me. Money-power, temptation-power, has taken him away from me. And as for you fools, your lack of faith will soon take you away."

They all cried aloud, "Never, never, Master! Never!"

"You know perfectly well what I said to Gokul — that I would lose him when the fateful day arrives. Now you see that I have lost him. Like that I will lose you, too. But I am not the real loser. It is you who will be the real losers, like Gokul. I know who I am."

Reva and her husband fell at the Master's feet and said, "Master, Master, tomorrow we shall bring you another ten thousand dollars. And if you want us to bring Gokul back, we shall try our best. If we succeed in finding him, whatever money he has not spent by this time will be yours."

The Master said, "It is impossible. You will never be able to bring Gokul back again. Gokul will never come back of his own accord, and I do not want him back in any case. You will not be able to bring him back, and I will not be able to accept him again. There is nothing you can do. This chapter of his life is over. I do not want you even to look for him. It is a most deplorable story.

"But I am very happy for you two. You will both be happy in your married life. I know you two will accept our path. And I assure you it is not because of your money that I shall accept you, but because of your inner cry and inner faith. Even before you have accepted my path, how sincerely you believed in my inner knowledge! When I told Reva that you would get married, she believed me completely. And just a few minutes ago when I told you about Gokul in front of my disciples, it was only you two who believed me. Look at these rascals! And some of them have stayed with me for seven and ten years. Alas, alas, this is my fate. Gratitude I get when I don't deserve it, and ingratitude I get when I don't deserve it. Well, the balance is quite even now."

September 23, 1974

Editor's preface to the first edition

This book contains the first of a series of short stories which Sri Chinmoy is writing on the subjects of gratitude and ingratitude. The incidents in these stories are based on experiences which he has had with his own disciples, or which he knows other Masters have had with theirs. Remarkable though some of them may seem, they are all part of the daily experience of a true spiritual Master whose boundless love and compassion for mankind is sometimes rewarded with gratitude and sometimes with the most deplorable ingratitude.