22 - Tolerate Others, Not Insult Others

There was a holy man in the Middle East who had a habit not to eat his breakfast without feeding a hungry person. One day, an elderly man came by and the holy man saw him and invited him for sharing his breakfast. The elderly man thanked him profusely and sat down to have breakfast with him. As they began to say a blessing over the food, the elderly man said aloud a prayer to pagan gods. This horrified the holy man who believed in one God. He felt that the elderly man was a non-believer in God, so he became very upset about this. He immediately asked that man to leave his table saying - "If you believe in pagans, then I don't want you in my house." The elderly man left the table and went away.

When the holy man returned to his table, he heard God speak to him - "What right you have to send that man away?" "He did not believe in You." God replied - "So what? Look, I know that he does not believe in Me, and there are many who do not believe in Me, still I have been supplying food to them. I have been supplying food to him for the last 80 years, even though he did not believe in Me, but you could not tolerate him even for single meal?

[This short anecdote is very impressive. We should not be so conservative in our own beliefs that we should insult others. As we have the right to believe in anything, the others also have the right to believe in other things, but by believing in other things, they do not become the subject of our hatred. God is aware of everybody's qualities and fault and He is the one who has all rights reserved for their welfare or punishment.]