An elderly friend and his family were desperately seeking accommodation. They were from Durban and had now moved up to Johannesburg. We have a 3 bedroom home and a single garage. My family consists of my wife, 3 children and myself. I asked my friend to live with us, and the accommodation was all that I could offer him. He occupied the garage with his wife and 2 daughters, and used the main building for bathing and having their meals. He settled in quite well.
One day, I came home from work, to find him cleaning sugar beans in the back room. He was separating the rotten beans from the good beans. He then threw the rotten beans into the ground into a small hole.
A few weeks later, after returning home from work, I stood chatting to the Uncle, in the yard. I noticed a bean tree at the exact spot where the rotten beans were thrown. I remembered that he had not covered the hole since it was not quite a suitable place to grow vegetables. We joked about it at the time, but had never thought or spoke about it again.
But…the inner voice said to me: “Did you get my message?” I was a little confused and asked the inner voice what the message was then the inner voice said… “Rotten bean!”
The understanding through Swami was that of all the rotten beans that was thrown into the hole, only one rotten bean decided to do something for itself. It absorbed the nutrients from the soil and decided to strive, to push forward and sprout.
This very same rotten bean plant produced almost twenty good beans. How amazing it was for one rotten bean plant to produce twenty good beans. Swami’s message was: “He loves you the way you are!” Mankind in general, thinks differently, looks different, has different tastes etc. But that’s what makes life exciting, because if we were all alike, life would be boring.
The rotten bean was not concerned about being rotten. It persistently pushed through the darkness in search of the light, to show itself to the world. This plant produced good beans, as if to show the Lord, that even when rotten, it was still able to do some good. The lesson you can learn from this is that the Lord loves you the way you are. He helps you to strive to reach greater heights and directs you onto the path of righteousness, teaching you about sharing and caring.
When people are nasty and insult you, you need to think of the rotten bean that produced good beans. There is no difference between the beans produced from good beans and those produced from the rotten beans. In the eyes of man, you may be rotten, but in Swami’s eyes, you are his child. Swami does not change anyone, but he teaches and guides you to improve yourself. He is the all merciful and forgiving Father.
You can change your wardrobe, but not your personality. A lion cannot pretend to be a sheep, even if wool was put onto its body. Everyone has the choice to change their bad habits and thoughts. They need to just reach out to Swami for his guidance.
Life is two dimensional, in that it has both positive and negative sides to it, of right and wrong, peace and war, light and darkness etc. We too have both qualities, so that we are able to discriminate.
If you show true qualities, people find it easier to relate to you. If you pretend to be somebody else people will not trust you and you will constantly create suspicion. The rotten bean story clearly illustrates this. Not all of the beans wanted to grow, but one out of the many beans thrown into the hole, took up the challenge to change its destiny. It was determined to improve its image.
It is always a pleasure for Swami to help the naughty, or those considered to have so called “rotten” behaviour simply because they are always willing to learn and reform. They ultimately reach greater heights. Whilst on the other hand, there are others that believe they are learned, and who know it all. They have egotistical attitudes.
My message to you is: Do not worry what others think of you. You need to be happy with what you think of yourself, and more importantly what Swami thinks of you!
Stay natural, Stay simple. Live simply and Love Life and God.
What an interesting read, makes me think of how we label ourselves and the people around us based on one fact or occurrence, ignoring the potential that Swami sees in us
So True! We sometimes are guilty of only believing what the eyes see.
An amazing story around how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves and with the right determination and attitude we can be better … a valuable lesson on how we should not let society determine our true value and worth
A really potent message of how easily one can reach incorrect conclusions and make judgements….but truly and positively concluded to show that the true Goodness in a person will always triumph….
Well written story with excellent imagery, that aptly highlights human misjudgement and that can be so damaging to one’s self concept… but is artfully concluded with a positive spin of rising above criticism to prove one’s self worth
Stay natural, Stay simple. Live simply and Love Life and God. This is exactly what we all need to follow to achieve fulfillment in life. Well said again Guru.🙏
Thank you for this inspirational story
Interesting stories. Too many to read now. Excellent idea to put them together. It’s a garland of gems. Well done.