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