16 - Obedience

It was spring time. Abjibhai and his friends were playing in the orchard.

Kesran observed, ‘It is a beautiful day, today.’ Vashram looked around and said, ‘Yes, I feel like going out for a picnic.’ Abjibhai suggested, ‘Let us go to Kera. My uncle owns an orchard there.’

Kesra was excited, ‘We can have raw mangoes there! Come, let us go. It would be fun!’ Abjibhai reminded, ‘First of all, take the permission from your parents. We shall meet here after ten minutes.’

All of them immediately ran home to ask permission and came back after a short while. They left for Kera. They were talking while walking Abjibhai was narrating incidents of God. Gangji and Kesran were little ahead.

Karsan stopped suddenly. He pointed out to Gangji, ‘Look! what is that?’ Abjibhai and other friends also reached there. Kesra and Vashram inquired, ‘What is it?’ Abjibhai noticed, ‘Someone has dropped a gold chain.’ Gangji recommended, ‘Let us give it to your uncle!’ Abjibhai refused, ‘No, we should not touch the things which do not belong to us.’

Vashram said, ‘Then let it be there. Why should we bother?’ Abjibhai was confused, ‘Then someone else would take it. Poor owner! He would loose his chain. Now, What to do?’ ‘Should we bury it?’ asked Abjibhai. Kesra replied impatiently, ‘Yes, let us do that. So that we can proceed towards uncle’s place and reach there fast.’

Before Abjibhai could say anything, they buried the chain. Abjibhai said, ‘We should not touch the things owned by someone else. But now what?’ Vashram was in a hurry, ‘Let us go, Abjibhai. Don’t bother about it.’ Abjibhai was still confused, ‘But how would the owner of the chain find out that the chain is buried here by us?’

Kesra asked, ‘What shall we do now?’ Abjibhai declared, ‘I will sit here till the owner of this chain comes here. All of you can go.’ Gangji joined him, ‘I will sit with Abjibhai.’ Kesra also joined them, ‘Then I am also not going.’ Other friends also stayed back.

Vashram was disappointed, ‘Had we gone to uncle’s place, we would have been enjoying.’ Jadavji was bored, ‘God knows when would the owner of the chain return?’ Abjibhai proposed, ‘Let us play Antakshari of Keertans.’ They enjoyed the game. After a short while, a man approached slowly as if he was looking for something. Kesran indicated, ‘See, that gentleman is looking for something.’

Abjibhai instructed, ‘How do we confirm that he is the owner of this chain? We shall inform him only if he asks, Otherwise nobody would mention anything.’ The person reached there. He asked children, ‘Have you found something here?’

Gangji was about to say that they had found one gold chain. But Abjibhai interrupted, What are you looking for?’ The gentleman replied, ‘I have lost my gold chain. Has anyone found it?’

Now Abjibhai was convinced that he was the real owner of the chain. Therefore he informed, ‘Yes, we have found the chain. Our God has instructed us not to take or touch any object owned by someone else. But we have buried it there, so that no one could see it. Please take it out. How possibly you could have found a buried chain? So we all were waiting for you.’

The owner of the chain was very happy. He thanked Abjibhai and said, ‘You are a very sensible child. You also follow God’s teachings. I am pleased. Please, accept these money. All of you spend it.’

Abjibhai refused politely, ‘No, Thank you. We have followed our God’s instructions. We can not take money. He asked his friends, ‘Let us go. We have performed our duty.’ All the friends reached to uncle’s orchard in Kera. They described all the details about the chain to uncle. Uncle also was pleased with Abjibhai.

He informed children, ‘Today you can have as many raw mangoes as you please. I will give you salt and pepper also.’ They cheered up. They played a lot of games and enjoyed till evening.

Difficult words:
Orchard - Area of land where fruit trees are grown
To recommend - To advice as the best choice
To bury - To place in a groove

Points to ponder:
- Shreeji Maharaj has instructed in Shikshapatri that one should not touch an object owned by someone else. If we take an object owned by someone else, it is called theft.
- Friends expressed different opinions about the chain, but Abjibhai remembered the instructions of Shreeji Maharaj and followed them properly.
- We should always follow instructions of Shreeji Maharaj it pleases our family members and Maharaj.

Exercise

Answer the following questions:
1. What was the season?
2. Which place did all the friends decide to visit? To whom did it belong?
3. What did Karsan notice on the road?
4. What were the different opinions expressed by the friends of Abjibhai?
5. What did Abjibhai decide about the chain?

Fill in the blanks:
1. Let us go to ___________.
2. Abjibhai was narrating the incidents of ________.
3. Someone has dropped his ____________.
4. He offered _____________ to Abjibhai.
5. We have followed the ______________ of our _________.

Who speaks the following statements?
1. Come on, let it be there, why should we bother?
2. We should not touch an object owned by someone else.