ALMS GIVING WITH STRAIGHT FORWARDNESS.
Baba: Nana, I will give you one more lesson.
N.G. Chandorkar: Very good.
Baba: Nana, if any one begs of you anything, if that be in your hand or power, and if you can grant the request or get it granted, do so. Do not say "No". If you have nothing to give, then, give a suave negative. Do not mock or ridicule the applicant nor get angry with him. If you do not like to part with what you have, do not say falsely that you have nothing . Decline to give it in polite terms and say circumstances or your desire stand in the way. Will you remember this lesson or forget it?
N.G. Chandorkar: What is difficulty in this? I shall remember.
Baba: This lesson is not quite so easy as it may seem.
N.G. Chandorkar: I will keep it in mind.
Sometime later, Nana, who had promised to pay Rs.300/- for charity to be done at the Kopergaon Datta temple did not bring the money and therefore avoided a visit to the temple, which was on his way to Shirdi. He, with the approval of his friend, took a detour through a very thorny path, as a result of which he and his friend ran thorns in their bodies. When they reached Shirdi, Baba would not talk to them.
N.G. Chandorkar: Why don't you talk with me?
Baba: Nana, when a man says he will remember the lessons I taught him but really does not, how can I talk to him?
N.G. Chandorkar: Baba, I remember all your lessons.
Baba: You gentleman, you evade seeing 'sircar' (God Datta) and take a detour. Why? Because the saint will ask for Rs.300/- is this the way to remember my lesson? If you have not the money, if it was not easy to arrange to get it, you have only to tell him that fact. Will the saint eat you? But what device is this, to avoid the temple of God for fear of the saint demanding money? Well then, have not thorns pierced your feet and body and the posterior part of your sapient friend? How can I talk to such a person?
