The Touchstone

Narrated by Paramahamsa Hariharananda

Once there was a rich landlord who entered into a legal dispute with his neighbor, a businessman, over a tract of 15 feet of land. The landlord lost the dispute and was forced to return the small tract of land which he had encroached upon his neighbor's property. He felt extremely bitter over it, and from that day onward he carefully avoided the businessman's company. His estate had been ruined as a result of the long and expensive lawsuit, and he had to find some financial help to get back on his feet.

One day he saw a sage who was staying in a modest little hut by the side of the Ganga. The sage's name was Sanatan ("eternal"), and he beckoned the ruined landlord to come to him. The sage told him, "Do you need money? I can help you." And he dug in the sand near him and produced a small stone. "This is a touchstone which I have been keeping. If you touch it on any piece of iron, that iron will instantly turn into gold." And to demonstrate it, he touched the visitor's sole of his shoe and lo!, all the nail heads that were in contact with the stone turned to gold. "Here, take this stone. With it you will be the richest man on earth." Astounded, the landlord looked at the serene face of the sage and the touchstone now resting in his hand. He then exclaimed, "If you can part with this invaluable treasure with such ease and grace, it is not that material treasure that I want, but your spiritual treasure!" And with these words, he hurled the touchstone into the Ganga river. He then fell at the feet of sage Sanatan. "Please accept me as your disciple and teach me your God-realization." Sage Sanatan responded, "Go from door to door and beg for your food, while thinking of Him, the Giver of all gifts. This is your sadhana."

The landlord took these words to heart, and from that moment onward he never set foot in his house again, and lived only through alms received by begging at people's doors. But he always carefully avoided to go to beg at the businessman's house. However one day he felt that he was not following his guru 100%, and he decided to go and beg from his former neighbor's house. When the businessman saw him, standing with a humble begging bowl in hand, he immediately told his daughters to bring a plate of gold and fill it with gold coins, and to give it to the landlord. But he humbly refused, saying "I only need a handful of rice for my meal, please." The businessman then produced the deed of the 15 feet of land which he had won in the court case, and gave it to the beggar. "Now you please take back this land, and let bygones be bygones. Leave this foolish idea of wanting to renounce the world and search for a guru. Your work is here, in your family, to administer your estate." But the former landlord doggedly refused to take the land back, and he went back to his guru.

Sanatan was waiting for him, and when the beggar narrated to him his encounter with the businessman, the sage remarked, "Now you have lost your pride, and humbled your ego. It is very difficult to do so. This is why I sent you begging first. Now I see that you are ready. Go and take a purifying bath in the Ganga I will give you initiation today, and teach you how to meditate and realize the real Treasure."