The saint's humility

Once there was a saint who had quite a few disciples. His disciples loved and adored him from the very depths of their hearts. One day, the saint was meditating all alone at the foot of a tree. While he was in deep trance, a man approached him. This man was full of pride and haughtiness. He kicked the saint and commanded him to get up. Since the saint’s trance was broken, he stood up.

The man placed a heavy load on the saint’s shoulders and said, “Today my servants are not available. It is beneath my dignity to carry this heavy load myself, so you have to do it for me. I can clearly see that you are just a lazy fellow. You were only sleeping under the tree. Anyway, I shall give you some money and afterwards you can have a nice meal.”

The saint most obediently followed the man and carried the load to the destination, which was the man’s home. The man told him, “Wait here until I come back. Then I will give you some money and food.” So saying, the man went inside the house.

The saint stayed there, not because he wanted money, but because he was extremely tired from carrying such a heavy load and he needed rest.

In the meantime, the saint’s disciples were looking for their Master. They had not found him in his usual position at the foot of the tree, so they had begun searching for him here, there and everywhere. Eventually they found him in the next village sitting by the roadside outside a large house.

They asked, “Master, what are you doing here?”

At that very moment, the man emerged from his house and said, “What are all you people doing here outside my house? This man is my servant. He has just carried a heavy load for me and he did a very good job.”

When the disciples heard these words, they became furious and rushed to attack the man. The saint shouted at them, “What are you doing? What are you doing? Do not hurt this man! God wanted me to have more humility. Therefore, I have carried his load cheerfully. God wanted me to shine bright, brighter, brightest. To my sorrow, I am not physically strong, so I am totally exhausted. But in a few minutes’ time, I will regain my strength and go back with you.”

Even after hearing the saint’s humble and compassionate words, the haughty man showed no remorse. The saint’s disciples said to the man, “You are a real scoundrel. Just because we are obedient to our Master, we are not going to thrash you. But we could easily do so.”

The man got frightened and ran indoors. The saint said to his disciples, “My children, God wanted me to learn something today, but it seems that you do not want me to learn it.”

One disciple said, “Forgive us, Master. God may want you to learn something but, at the same time, we are also sure that He wants us to teach that scoundrel a lesson. God is acting in and through you in one way and He is acting in and through us in another. This is the philosophy that you have taught us. Please forgive us.”

The Master gave his disciples a powerful smile. What else could the poor Master do?