'There was a handicapped man who could not move and had to depend upon the charity of others. People were annoyed by his begging and ridiculed him. Once a holy man came by and this poor man sought his advice. The holy man made sure that his advice would be fully and truthfully followed. He took that man under a tree and placed him as comfortably as possible and instructed him not to accept any charity for three consecutive days. The villagers saw this holy man settling him under a tree. They became curious and asked the handicapped man if they could help. But he refused all help. Even when they insisted he refused, obeying the holy man from respect. This reliance on the Self made him strong and his face lit. Within these three days the villagers became aware of his inner force because all his worries and frustrations had totally disappeared. This made the ultimate change and they looked after the man, and the man looked into the grace of the Self. He was provided with all that a holy man would need, and he provided all that the villagers needed to turn inward. The company of a Realised Man is good enough to change the course of a wretched life into a holy life. The advice that "I need nothing" transformed the situation.'
from 'Birth and Death' - Shankaracharya Shantanand Saraswati, a disciple of Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati. Books by Shantanand Ji ('Birth and Death', 'Good Company', 'The Man who wanted to meet God', 'Prayer' & 'The Orange Book' are all available. They can be ordered on-line from the Study Society http://www.studysociety.net/ To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/