Raneswar Mornings: Value

My son was holding a crumpled paper while I was offering prayer at Raneswar Temple. I was alarmed when I assumed that it might be the paper on which there were some food and a stray dog would have leaked them before my son took it. I immediately snatched the paper and threw that into the dustbin. I was scolding him for this dirty act and he was crying . I was getting furious because of his cry. I was about to slap him when the man from the temple stopped me. He gave one more crumpled paper to my son so that he can resume his play and called me to the sitting area.

“I don’t know why he is so dirty and adamant. I give him the best toys from the toy shop he breaks them in minute and plays with these dirty things. Not sure when he will understand the value of things.”, I said out of anger.

“What do you mean by value of things?”, he asked.

“I mean, Which things are of more value and which are of less?”, I fumbled as I was not sure how to answer.

“You actually mean the price not value. You mean if that dirty paper would have had a price tag of higher value and you would have purchased it then it would have been fine for your son to play.”, He said.

“No, this paper might have been leaked by stray dogs and must have many germs on it.”, I defended.

“What about the toys you buy from shops. Do you know how many people have touched it with dirty hands and how many harmful chemicals are there in the toy itself. You assumed all the dirty things because you did not purchase it by your money and you assumed the purity of the toy because you purchased it by your money from some reputed shop.”, He said.

“Nothing in this world has an absolute value. In our eyes thing’s value changes time to time. There are two type of things, one which is to fulfill our material need and the other one for our emotional need. Both of these are needed for our survival. For something’s, we often overvalue them before we get them and it diminishes its value over time then it becomes valueless after sometime. But there are others, which follow the same path but when you lose them they become invaluable.

You have to look at the value of things from the seers point of view. Not your point of view. For your son that crumpled paper was costlier than any costly toy you buy him. You can buy things but can not value it in others eyes.

Also think of your value in your son’s eyes. If you ill-treat him for playing with things which is valuable in his eyes then unfortunately you your value may come down in his eyes.”

This made me think. There are many small things which I valued much more than the costliest things.I called my son and hugged him as I was feeling guilty for scolding him. He hardly bothered because he had forgotten that as soon as received the other paper. Unfortunately that’s not true for adults. Adults do not forget things easily.

That man was looking at me and smiling as he realized that I understood his point. He said, “Materials lose value easily so care for the value of relationship more than materialistic objects. Life is short so try preserving as many high valued things you can. Don’t be penny wise pound foolish”. Somebody called him and he excused himself and left. I sat there for sometime to think over it and then came back home.

What is the most valuable thing you possess? Are you taking proper care of it?

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog

Related articles

• Raneswar Mornings – Glass half empty (straydog77.com)
• The Glass Door (straydog77.com)
• Happy Married Life!!!??? (straydog77.com)
• Mirror Mirror!! (straydog77.com)
• Next Dream??? (straydog77.com)
• Stray Dog (straydog77.com)