One day, Sant (Saint) Kabir wanted to go on a one-year long ‘yatra’ (Spiritual Journey). He leaves his ashram behind to his apocryphal son Kamal saying “I have built this ashram for the community. Let them all in, let them eat, pray, sing song, dance and live in peace here. Money should not be an object, peace is paramount.”
An year later, when Kabir returns from his yatra, he sees that Kamal has acquired wealth beyond imagination. There are golds, diamonds, ivories and silk. People have been paying up to stay in an ashram which has now turned into a ‘luxury ashram’ of some kind.
Kabir gets very angry at his son and says, “What have you done to this place, son? You’ve gone astray. This is supposed to be a community place, a place of spiritual energy. You’ve dirtied it with all of this gold and diamonds and jewels by accepting all this from the people.”
Kamal starts laughing at Sant Kabir and quips back, “You are such a fraud, Father.” Kabir is confused, he says, “How am I the fraud, you’re the one who let greed consume you.”
Kamal says, “I have merely followed your orders. You said let them do whatever they want to, they came to the ashram with gold and jewels. They are of no value to me, who am I to say no. You say you are a man of spirituality and a man of enlightenment, and yet, after all these years of meditation and spiritual education, you are still able to tell the difference between diamond and dirt.“
Price is what you pay, value is what you assign.
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