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“You can not take the needle with you to Heaven when you<br />
die. So, if he dies first, you will never be able to give it<br />
back to him. Go now. Return the needle immediately!” So<br />
the man set out after the saint.<br />
When he found Shri Gurunanak Devji, he handed him the<br />
needle and said, “Guruji, I cannot bear the thought that if<br />
you should die, I would have no way of returning your needle<br />
to you. It is not as though I could take it with me when I<br />
die and then give it back to you in Heaven. I cannot. So,<br />
please take it now.”<br />
The saint smiled, took his needle, and looked deep into the<br />
rich man’s eyes. “You are right. You cannot take this needle<br />
with you when you die. But, if you cannot even take this<br />
tiny needle, how do you think you will take all your possessions<br />
and wealth? That, too, must stay behind when you<br />
go. You can not even leave this Earth with a tiny needle, let<br />
alone a palace full of wealth.”<br />
“Oh my God. You are right.” The man became white as a<br />
sheet. “All my life I have struggled for things that are as<br />
transitory as this body. I have sweat and slaved and forsaken<br />
my family in favor of acquiring more and more wealth.<br />
Yet, if God takes me tomorrow, I will lose it all in a breath.<br />
And, I have acquired nothing that will last. I have not done<br />
good deeds for others; I have not practiced sadhana; I<br />
have not served the world.”<br />
When he returned home, he immediately sold all his possessions<br />
- except the most basic necessities - donated all<br />
the millions of rupees to the poor, and devoted the rest of<br />
his life to God and the world. And do you know what? As<br />
he lay on his death-bed in the small, simple house with his<br />
wife and family by his side, he said, “I am far richer today<br />
than I was 30 years ago when Shri Gurunanak Devji came<br />
to my home.”<br />
What can we learn from this wise saint? His message is as<br />
apt and valuable today as it was in the rural villages of<br />
India centuries ago. We come into this world with nothing<br />
but the love of our parents; we leave this world with<br />
nothing but the love we have created. All material things<br />
we acquire we must leave behind. I have never seen a<br />
rich man, a sports-star, a movie actress, a businessman, a<br />
doctor, a fashion model, or even the president ride to<br />
Heaven in a Mercedes, carrying a basket filled with luscious<br />
snacks. No, we leave this Earth alone. We cannot<br />
take our car, or our favorite clothes, or our finest china,<br />
not even one cent. All we can take is the karma of this life<br />
and the knowledge that we have spent this life in service,<br />
that the world is a better place because we lived.<br />
When Alexander the Great was dying he begged his doctors<br />
to find some cure, to somehow salvage his failing<br />
health. The doctors sadly explained that there was nothing<br />
more they could do, that they could not give him even<br />
one extra breath. At this Alexander asked that, upon his<br />
death, his arms should be kept out of his casket instead of<br />
inside. When a corpse is placed into a casket, the arms are<br />
always laid neatly at the body’s side. However, Alexander<br />
wanted his arms, palms up, out of the casket. He said that<br />
it was important for people to realize that even though he<br />
had conquered entire countries and kingdoms, even<br />
though he had obtained vast amounts of riches, even<br />
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