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Stories and
Testimonials
Story of a Beggar And
a Wealthy Man
A
beggar was sitting beside a road, when he saw a splendid
carriage coming toward him. The carriage shone like the
sun from the gold and precious gems which adorned it.
The beggar thought, “Here comes a great and
wealthy man. What will he give me?”
The
carriage stopped, and a man, regally
arrayed, emerged and approached the beggar. To the
beggar’s
astonishment the man asked,“What will you give me?”
The beggar
was confused. He reached into his meager purse and pulled
out the smallest grain of rice he could find. He handed
the rice to the wealthy man, thinking, “What
can he possibly need from me?”
After
thanking the
beggar,
the wealthy man went on his way. Later that night, the
beggar emptied his purse to count his possessions. To
his astonishment, he saw lying there a grain of rice,
which had turned to gold.
Now
the beggar realized Who It Was he had met on
the road. He cried out, “If
only I had given Him my all!”
The
meaning of this beautiful story is that whatever
we offer to God will be returned to us, spiritualized and
enriched, a hundredfold.
When
we offer our hearts in devotion, our love is purified.
When we offer our thoughts, they become inspired. When
we offer God our money, it too, like the beggar’s
grain of rice, becomes spiritual gold.
Story Of a "Lapsed
Tither"
I’d
gotten myself into a real financial hole. It was completely
self-created through over-spending. The over-spending
had to do with a kind of self-pity I’d gotten
into. I made matters much worse for myself by stopping
my tithing. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve got to sort
out this financial mess first, and then I’ll start tithing
again next month.’
The
months went by; my situation did not improve. Worse still,
my meditation began to suffer. In addition to self-pity,
I had allowed myself to respond to life’s
pressures by giving myself little pleasurable
rewards, which I couldn’t afford, instead of making
a stronger effort to make God my partner.
In
the end what had suffered most was my devotion to God.
I felt like a child who hurt her best friend by never
playing with him:
instead, seeking out another playmates. My friendship with
God was suffering, and I was suffering as a result.
Lucky
for me, God doesn’t hold grudges. A couple of weeks
ago I was looking in my closet for something, when I
came across a sweater I remembered well. Six months
earlier, I had really struggled with myself over buying
it: it
was a bit pricey for me.
I had caved in, and there was the sweater, with
the tags still on it! I had never worn it.
The
sweater represented one month’s tithe, for sure.
I found myself crying, feeling I had chosen wrongly so
many times in the last nine months. I wondered if I’d
ever find my way back to clarity of purpose and devotion
to God above all else.
Last
week I was balancing my checkbook for the first time
in five months (my year of spending excesses
had brought a kind of denial and irresponsibility).
To my amazement, I was not only able to reconcile the
checkbook, but also found three
deposits which I had failed to note in my check register.
I
knew this was God’s
immediate response to my prayer. He was telling me I could turn
around my relatively new bad habits, and get my spiritual
practice of tithing going again, as well as
a stronger meditation. There was great grace
in that moment. I immediately wrote my tithe check to equal
the three ‘lost’ deposits.
That
night I had the best meditation I’d had in months.
I knew that through God’s grace, I had turned
a corner.
I
heard the talk at Ananda about ‘karmic
bombs’ which can 'go off,' unexpectedly, in one's life.
They represent old tendencies and habits developed in past
lifetimes. Right now, I am grateful for the simple, practical
things I can do, like tithing, to keep myself open to God’s
love. They keep me affirming that I want God-realization
above all.”
Other Testimonials...
"Some
years ago I was an 'in-debt carpenter.' Tithing
was the last thing I thought I could afford.
I had been donating money to this and that, but
I did not tithe. I was barely keeping afloat financially.
One
day, a story told by one of the ministers about tithing
intrigued me. I decided to try it. Even though
I was flat broke, I gave a tithe with my next paycheck.
My
checks didn't
bounce that pay-period, even though I fully expected them
to. A big windfall did not happen, nor huge amounts
of money came to me, but after I began tithing, I always
seemed to have enough. Things stopped going wrong financially.
Eventually, I even turned down a pay raise, because I
simply didn’t
need it!” – E.G.
**********
"Tithing
did not come easy for me. However, bit by bit I had found
that it helped me to understand the concept of money
as a flow of energy, rather than as a set amount, which
I received and gave away every month.
This
tremendously helped my faith in God, and the conviction
that He is taking care of me. When I find
myself worrying about money, the first thing I do
is write a tithe check. This is such an effective way
to stop holding onto things, which affirms a sense
of lack. Instead, I can have the feeling of abundance,
if I so choose!” – R.G.
**********
"After
several years of experimenting with tithing, I finally
added it to my ‘Do Always! ’ list of spiritual
practices. It is one of the most joyful and freeing practices
I have. I am very grateful, for it has brought faith
into the fearful realms of day-to-day practical life.” – Anonymous
**********
"I
had my bank account number stolen by someone, who then
proceeded to write
checks against it, before it was discovered.
Normally, I would have been terribly flustered. However,
shortly before, I had begun the practice
of tithing. I felt that I had opened that part of my
life to Divine Mother to be ‘cleaned up’ of
old karmic tendencies. Her grace was such that the sorting-out
process with the bank went unbelievably smoothly. I lost
no money!
The
problem with
my checking account only increased my conviction that
tithing has made
me freer, by allowing me to feel that God is
my partner in every
situation.” – J.C.
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