Timir Podder

Honest man

A rich man lived in a land. He established a god-temple and appointed a priest for the deity worship. He donated a lot of land, cultivated fields and orchards to the temple to meet the daily expenses of the temple. He made arrangements so that any hungry person, be it destitute or saintly, who came to the temple, could stay there for a while and receive the offerings of the deity. He was looking for an honest and competent person to look after the temple property, who would be responsible for proper management of all the temple operations. On hearing this news, many people came to the rich man to be appointed to that position. Because they knew that they would get a lot of money if they were retained in this position. But the rich man was giving them all back. He was telling everyone 'I need a real good guy, I'll check him out myself.' People used to abuse him. Many people thought him stupid or even crazy. But he was not listening to those words. When the doors of the temple were opened to see the idol of the deity, many visitors came to see the idol, then the rich man The man used to stand on the roof of his building and silently observe every visitor to the temple. One day a man came to the temple to visit the deity. He is wearing torn dirty clothes. He did not know anything about education. As Tagore bowed and left, the gentleman called him to him. Said - 'You will take responsibility for the care of this temple?' The man was very surprised and said - 'What is he? I am little educated. How can I manage the work of such a big temple?' The rich gentleman said - 'I don't need more educated people. I want to entrust the temple to an honest and benevolent man.' The man replied - 'Why do you choose me when there are so many people? Good people considered?' The rich gentleman said - 'I know you are a good man. In the middle of the path leading to the temple, a piece of brick was lying on the ground and one corner of it was sticking out above the ground. I have been observing here for a long time that many people hurt their feet on that brick. They stumble and fall but go on shoveling without trying to move the brick. You didn't even hit that brick. Yet you managed to remove it after seeing it. I saw that you asked my people for a shawl and handed over the piece of brick .The man said - 'It is the duty of every human being to remove thorns, pebbles, and stumbling blocks from the road, and I did just that.' Hearing this, he said - 'Knowing and fulfilling one's duty is the sign of a truly good person.' After thinking about everything, the rich gentleman appointed that simple yet conscientious person to work in the temple. How well this work was done was later proved by the growth and arrangement of the temple.