The Kindest Person I Have Met

This is a strange world occupied by strange creatures of whom a man is one. He alone can think and act, weigh things for himself and do acts that may not pertain to his welfare. In other words, man alone feels committed socially, and given good sense, he can do wonders. He can help the members of society in many ways. Some feel it is their duty to help the members of the society to which they belong. They may even go out of the way to help others and wipe tears from the eyes of the suffering and bring them succor.

There is a good story in the Mahabharata to illustrate the greatness of being kind. King Yudhishtira was performing a great sacrifice and the hall was full of the great and the noble of the land. Then a mongoose came there and rolled all over the sacrificial place. It was asked why it did so. (Remember the mongoose in the story can speak!) The mongoose which had half of its body in gold told the gathering thus. “It was coming from a forest where there was a big deluge and food was scarce. An old couple with great difficulty had gathered some grains and made flour out of it. When they were about to cat a beggar came asking for alms. The couple gave him whatever flour they had. Some of the flour fell down and when the mongoose rolled on it half its body became golden. That was the greatness of spontaneous kindness. Hearing a lot about Yudhishtira’s sacrifices, it has come there with a view of getting the other half of its body golden.” But it was disappointed. It said it was all done for personal glory. Of course, the story has a moral.

In fact, genuine kindness is a rare commodity but still, there are and have been persons who go even out of the way to help others. Mr. X was a kind man. People did not know much of his kindness. At the time of his retirement, he got a sizable sum by way of gratuity. Had it been any other person he would have invested it in some bank or other institution from where he could get a good return, but he didn’t do that. He had a distant relative of his who was a good cycle mechanic and also a shrewd businessman but he had no money of his own to start any business on his own. Mr. X met the mechanic relative quite casually and learned that he needed the capital to build up a fine business. Without hesitation, he offered his life’s savings to the relative saying that he could use the money for starting his own business. The other hesitated and said, “Suppose I fail!” But the kind gentleman would not balk out. He said that he would look upon it as his having lost the money himself and would not worry about it.

The other man received the money gratefully and started his own career as a cycle dealer. The war came and with his acumen, he not only built up his industry but also made a name and finally built his own factory employing thousands of workers. Till today he remembers very gratefully his relative Mr. X who gave him the money so magnanimously for a start in life.