A Rabbi loved his two sons more than life. Every evening, as he returned home, he would meet them, embrace them, seat them by his side and then eat his evening meals.
One evening, as he returns home, his children are not there to greet him. He feels restless. His wife asks him to take his food as it is getting cold. Reluctantly, he sits to his meals.
His wife asks him, “If someone left two precious pearls in my custody and, after several years, came back to claim them, would I be right in refusing to return them?”
“What a question!” the Rabbi exclaims. “Go and restore to the owner the two pearls, without delay!”
After the Rabbi has finished his meals, his wife takes him to an inner apartment. There lie the dead bodies of their two sons covered by a white sheet.
The Rabbi is disconsolate with grief: he bursts into a fit of weeping.
“Why do you grieve?” says the wife to the Rabbi. “Did you not tell me that what belongs to another must be restored to him without delay? Our two sons were precious pearls given to us by God. He gave: He has taken. Blessed be His Name!”
“Yes,” repeated the Rabbi, “He gave: He has taken. Blessed be His Name!”
Everything we have really belongs to God. It is ours so long as He chooses to keep it with us. The wealth of the world, its possessions and power, are a loan to us from God. If He takes back anything, who can blame Him? What reason have we to grumble or to complain?
God is the Kul Maalik, the Absolute Owner of all that is. If He chooses to take back anything - or all of what we have - He has but taken what belongs to Him. What reason is there for grief or sorrow?
God is the Ever-compassionate One. If ever He takes away a thing, He gives us something better in return. His ‘Taking’ and ‘Giving’ have always our good in view. When this insight comes to us, there is but one prayer in our hearts: “Thy will be done!”
When troubles come to man - and he accepts them as gifts from God - he is not alone. God is with him: this makes him happy. When Krishna said to Kunti, “Ask for a boon,” she said: “Lord, send me some little suffering, everyday. In suffering are Thou art remembered. In pleasure are Thou art forgotten.”