You own so many things like clothes, books and money. You have been told that whatever one owns is his property. And property is exclusively for the use of its owner. He may use it in anyway he likes. He is the master of his property. Will you say that you are the master of your clothes, books, etc.? Certainly you will say so.

However, words of wisdom spoken by our elders and betters tell that whatever you own does not belong to you as of right. Then to whom does it belong? It belongs to those people who need it. You should readily make it available to them. You are its owner, no doubt. Your ownership entails performing a very important duty i.e. protecting it against theft, damage, etc. to ensure its optimum use. Note, your ownership does not entitle you to use it exclusively for yourself. You can use it when you are convinced that it is no longer needed by others.

This thought is contrary to what you have been thinking so far about the things you own. Sometimes we think wrongly because we do not know or we have forgotten what our elders have exhorted us to do.

We are telling you a true story to illustrate our point.

In one of his previous births Lord Buddha was a very rich man. He spent money like water to fulfil the needs of others. Once thieves took away from his house all his belongings except a sickle which had escaped their notice. He was sad not because he had nothing to eat but because he had nothing to give others. He thought seriously over this unpleasant situation. Then he made a decision. He took the sickle and left for the nearby jungle. To their great surprise, people saw in the evening that he, who was a rich man a day before, was returning from the jungle with a load of grass on his head. He wended his way to the market. There he sold the grass. He gave away the money, he had thus earned, to beggars and the needy. He would repeat this routine daily. He fed the hungry and clothed the naked first and fulfil his own needs only when some money was left unspent. Not once but several times he had to go hungry but he was never grieved.

This story reveals as to what our attitude toward our own things should be. The moral of this story is: Your things are not your things. They belong to those who need them. You are not the master but a trustee of those things.

Dear children, you should reflect on your way of thinking about the things you own. What would you have done had you been that ‘rich man’? Would you have acted like him or differently? Share your thoughts with us. We await your responses eagerly.