A man was bitterly envious of his nearest neighbour. He used to spend long hours in prayer and meditation. He was an active participant of all available religious programmes. But his mind was not pure. He developed deep hatred, envy and enmity towards his neighbour. He wanted to be superior to his neighbour in every aspect of life.
One night, God appeared before him in a dream and said,“I am pleased with your prayer and praise. Ask for a gift. It will be granted. But your neighbour will get the same gift in double amount.”
He was glad that God was pleased with him. But he was sad that his bitter enemy would get a greater gift. He planned and asked God to grant a gift. He requested, “God, destroy the sight in one of my eyes.” It was granted immediately. Though he was sorry about his disability, he was happy that his neighbour would loose sight in both his eyes and suffer the bitterness of blindness.
With his single eye, he peeped at his neighbour’s house. But he was surprised to see his neighbour happily walking around without any disability. His sight was not lost! Confused, he complained to God, “Why don’t you keep your word, God? You did not give my neighbour the gift of blindness given to me, in double measure.”
God said, “Son, I always keep my word. Blindness is not a gift,
but a curse.You have the gift of sight in only one eye now, as asked by you. But your neighbour has sight in both of his eyes. He was granted the gift of sight in double measure.”
He suddenly awoke from his dream. He took some time to realise that it was a dream. He examined his sight and was relieved to find that his sight was not lost. He thought about the dream. He was sure that it was a message from God. He thought how foolish he was to request for a disability out of enmity to his neighbour. He was enlightened by the dream. He went to his neighbour and begged his pardon for thinking, talking and acting against him. They embraced each other and were good friends thereafter.
Envy or jealousy is a serious sin. We should not be jealous of what others achieve. Let us do our duty and trust in God.
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© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016,Kerala, India and Leo. S. John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath,Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507,
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