Real Wealth..

This is a true story of Gandhi's Ashram at Sevagram. One day, Mahatma Gandhi went for his morning walk. Some of his disciples were with him. Suddenly, he noticed a long piece of cotton on the ground. He motioned to a woman, who was walking with him, to pick up the piece of cotton.

On returning to his cottage, Mahatma Gandhi remembered the incident. He summoned the woman who he had asked to pick up the piece of cotton, and asked her to bring it to him.

The woman was bewildered and said, "Bapu, I thought you had asked me to pick up that cotton to clear the path. So I threw it in the trash can."

Mahatma Gandhi was dismayed and visibly disturbed. He said to the woman, "If you had picked up some money lying in the street, would you throw it in the trash?"

She replied, "No."

Mahatma Gandhi explained, "That piece of cotton was also money. You should learn to recognize real wealth. The one who threw away that piece of cotton without spinning it into yarn, indeed discarded wealth. When I asked you to pick it up, you also could not understand its value. Please go and bring it to me. Remember that we make wealth through labor and putting wealth to proper use is our duty."

In another instance, Mahatma Gandhi had remarked, "If we can not take care of a small thing, how on earth can we safeguard our free nation?"