aaj ka jeevan mantra by pandit vijayshankar mehta, story about good work, we should do good work with good intention | कोई भी अच्छा काम करता है तो उसकी नीयत और उपयोगिता पर जरूर ध्यान देना चाहिए

story – In olden times there was a rich man. He was very fond of serving. He felt that he should serve God, so he used to light a lot of lamps in his village temple everyday. Throughout the night, the temple was illuminated by the light of lamps. The people of the village used to praise the rich person after seeing the lamps when they came to the temple. He was happy to hear the praise.

There was a street near the house of a poor family in the same village. At night there was difficulty in moving people due to darkness in that street. The poor man started lighting a lamp in that street. People passing through the street could easily see the way with the light of a lamp.

Incidentally, that rich and poor man of the village died simultaneously. Both had done many good things in life, so both were found in heaven. But, the poor man had a higher position and facilities than the rich. Seeing this, the rich man said to God, ‘Lord I used to light a lot of lamps in your temple every day, but this poor person used to light only one lamp in a dark street, yet why have you given it a high place?’

God said, ‘It is true that both of you used to light lamps. But, behind the lamp you lit, it was your intention to praise the villagers. In the temple, there was still light. If you don’t light a lamp, someone else will light it. But, the intention of that person was that by lighting the lamp in the dark street, people would find a way and they should not stumble. Our rule here is that we see both the intention and the usefulness of human works.

Learning If we are doing some good work, then we must definitely see our intention and the usefulness of that work. Do good works that are useful and we should have no personal interest in them.