According to age-old traditions of Indian culture, the daughter-in-law of the house is expected to revere, serve and obey her in-laws. In one such household of a wealthy businessman, the daughter-in-law was disappointed by her father-in-law’s facade of generosity. The businessman donned the mask of a philanthropist, but in reality, he was a mean and miserly man.
Under the garb of social service and charity, he would discard all the useless, unwanted things of the household, including rotten grains and poor-quality food, and distribute them among the poor and the needy. The daughter-in-law was a woman of values, and she prayed that God gives her an opportunity to set her father-in-law on the right path.
The opportunity did finally arrive one day when her mother-in-law travelled out of the city. This left the responsibility of serving food to her father-in-law to the daughter-in-law. She made chapatis from the same inferior quality wheat, which had been set aside for the poor that day in another display of charity.
Naturally, the chapatis turned out hard and dark brown. This did not go down well with the businessman, who was used to good quality food every day. He wondered why his daughter-in-law had served him such inedible food. Angry and puzzled, he called out to her and berated her for this act.
“Do you know who I am? I am the head of the family!” he stated. “Yes, I am aware of that,” the daughter-in-law replied quietly. “Then why have you served me these rotten chapatis?” he asked more sternly. “I am a wealthy man. I can afford the best of food. Why do you feed me as if I were a beggar?”
The daughter-in-law replied, “Dear father-in-law, whatever you give to others, comes back to you someday. It would help if you got used to eating these chapatis, for they are what you give away to others. Sooner or later, they will come back to you as the fruit of your karma.” The businessman was left astounded. He did not like what he heard, but he soon realised that her words did indeed ring true.
(Dada J.P. Vaswani is humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.)
