The Poor Beggar

Once, there lived a poor beggar near a temple in Varanasi. Being a beggar, he had no money and was also very uncomfortable. He decided to go to the temple nearby to worship God and overcome his difficulties.

Next day, he tried to get a job nearby and he succeeded. The job was to clean dirty bottles and fit caps on the filled bottles in some warehouse. He worked hard for a week.

After a week, he counted the pieces and the result was 42 gold pieces--- 6 per day.

Next day, he went to the temple and as he was about to enter, the security guard said, " What! A beggar at the temple! A beggar can't enter such a holi place. You are punished by the God of Wealth for some sin."

Saying this the guard pushed the beggar.

The beggar felt bad. Even if someone has done a sin, can't he meet God?! He thought of other ways to meet God.

He decided to go to a shop to buy Buddha's idol. He bought it with 30 gold pieces. With 12 pieces, he bought incense sticks, matchsticks, oil, cotton, and a lighter.

With pure love and devotion, one by one he put each one of his ingredients in front of him. He was very happy with his arrangements. He started his worship as soon as he had lit the incense sticks with the lighter.

As each second passed, every drop of devotion in the beggar's heart multiplied. At last, the oil was coming to an end. When the last drop of oil was going to be burnt, a spark was noticed.

Suddenly, the fire grew to an enormous size and a voice came out. If you were to hear the voice, you will think that you have heard it once before. The voice is as sweet as honey, as fragrant as rose, and colourful as glitter.

The voice said, "What's the boon that you would like me to grant?" The beggar said, "To be honest, I would not like wealth, but comfort." Then the fire shrunk, shrunk and then went off. The beggar was so mesmerized by the voice that he did not even see his surroundings. Now, he had turned into a rich man! Even though, he did not wish wealth, he got it from God due to his honesty.

He decided to go to the temple to thank God. Now the guards saluted him. The man was very happy. The guard had understood his mistake. He went inside and thanked god. The news spread over all the city. Every newspaper had the picture of the man on its first page.

Everyone learnt a lesson from the man and everyone became religious.

Since then Varanasi is a holy place.