The joy of giving...A lesson learnt for life...

This is what my lesson for this weekend was!:)
All this while i've been thinking to myself... that i'm above all this materialistic pleasure..
Im way above a lot of people i know..
I wonder why money gives them such a high...
Why people are so egoistic.. why can they not let go...
And all through this unknowingly i definitely had an ego of my own which i was nurturing..

We had a maid who worked with us for about 3 months. She din't quite need to work and that was very apparant in the way she went about doing the chores assigned to her.

In no time we were kind of looking for someone to do a better job and hence gave her quite a decent notice period saying we will need to replace her and she seemed pretty ok with the idea.. so there was no guilt :P

Her last day with us.. was the day i learnt a lesson for life...
The joy of giving can compete with no other...

My husband was helping me clean the kitchen draw when a brand new box.. more or less of a showpiece by itself came out of there
... It was one of the many that i had bought for mom..on my trip to Jaipur nearly 3 years ago... she had never used it and it was still brand new.. so she passed it on back to me for our new home...
And the circle continued as i tucked it away to use it some other day too..




Out it came...
He looked at it.. as i showed it off to him and told him the story behind it and how i got it so cheap and how it could cost a bomb here.. and bla bla bla...
He din't say much. Just heard me out.
A brief silence .
"Let's give this to her" He says
"Who??!!" I say (with a "haw" expression on my face)
"The maid" He says
"R u crazy" I say
"Huh? Why? Whats crazy about that?"
"NO NO im not giving it" I say
"U know what it feels like to give? Have u ever felt the joy of giving?" He says
"Yes ofcourse i have, but.. but... not this... this has been stored for so long.. and i wanna use it someday" i say
" Ya, but you said you got it real cheap.. and it looks like it comes from her land, so whats the harm if u just gave it to her.. she'll be so happy"
"NO ways.. i love it and i am going to use it soon.. maybe even now" I say...
"Come on.. its ok love.. we CAN defnitely afford to make someone happy " he says...

I change the topic hoping he forgets about it and get on with my other chores...

Time comes for her to leave..She says her goodbye...

The words repeat a million times in my head and heart " the joy of giving .. the joy of giving..."

Involuntarily..not even realising what i am about to do.. I go .. pick up the box.. hand over the salary and this box to her...

The smile on her face was something that cannot be matched with any materialistic gain ever!
She was shocked and happy at the same time.The expression very obviously said " this is brand new.. why would she give it to me"
I did not explain as i did not think there was any need to...:)
I Just put my hand on her shoulders and say " Take care.. come by sometime "
She bid farewell and left.

I felt sooo small...
Here i was thinking i'm above all these materialistic pleasure and I can let go easily.. and all the gyaan...
But when it came to action it actually took some convincing... i couldnt believe myself...
But yes.. I have learnt this lesson.. and its for life...
I promise myself this...
I will never deny the joy of giving ever again! :)

Thank you my most prized possesion for teaching me the most important lesson of my life and unknowingly helping me grow on a spiritual level each day:)