Daily Theosophy

he unintentionally gathered a big fan club around him who wanted to spend the rest of their lives (or at least one night) with him. So he removed the pictures and put an over-aged American female movie star in its place.

(105)

(Money)

Shano had never talked about money though, and neither had the director, and the first three months he was ‘on trial’ so he received nothing. When the director finally paid him (after Shano had taken a bank account), he found out that he could not even buy a quarter of a computer for that money. So he asked the director, whether he might have a computer to take to his home – but the director, who was usually quite a friendly man, suddenly became angry, and said “Are you crazy?! Do you think that we are given away these things for just that. No villager will ever get a job that pays enough to buy a computer.” “But now I know more about computers than most clients,” Shano said, “and it would be very useful for me, because I will learn many things from the internet and I can chat in English with people in Japan.” “No Shano, you are becoming a haughty boy, you can work and learn whenever you work, but I am not responsible for what you do at home.” He didn’t know what ‘haughty’ meant though. “At home I am also Shano, and the people there would love it.” “Let them bring their money then, and they can get what they want!” he said sternly and without kindness. Shano was flabbergasted. Had he said anything wrong?

Shano was so charming and kind and cheerful and helpful, that people who had to buy some technical gadget choose to come to his boss’s shop, and sales increased significantly. Shano was never shy to talk to anyone (even though he still liked to be alone on his room), and because he was interested in about everything, he asked loads of questions to the clients, about their life, about their jobs and their knowledge. Some people were sad about something, but he would always talk in such a way that the client was more happy when he left than when he entered the shop, even if they bought nothing. Shano was always happy when they bought something, but not because that meant making money, but because the client would now be happier than before he bought that particular thing. He was always happy when someone else was happy, or even more when a whole lot of people (and animals) were happy at the same time. Shano’s only secret was – a secret he himself didn’t even know – that he was uninhibited, spontaneous, but at the same time very thoughtful, free and natural, just because during his education he had never been suppressed by anyone or by any religious or social system. But, he also had the natural sensitivity to look ‘inside’ the people, and to ‘see’ and feel when and why some of them were not happy. It was just natural for him that people helped each other, and he listened to their hearts. He also had never learned to distrust anyone. He was so innocent – and just that was his charm.

After another month it was pay-day. He had had to open a bank account, and he got an ATM card and a credit/debit card, because money in the form of bills and coins hardly existed anymore in those days, except for some small daily matters like buying candies. He received a certain amount – something that had never happened before in his life. He went to an ATM and took all the money – the first time ever he had money, and was supposed to use it. He went to a big candy shop and bought a big back of candies, maybe one and a half kg. He gave all his money, and got half of it back. Then he went to the many poor and dirty children living in the streets and gave candies to each of them. He even forgot to take one himself. He had fancied to buy toys and game computers for all these children, but he realized now that for all the money he had left he could not buy more than one eighth part of a small computer – let alone computers for all his friends in the streets. So he gave only candies. He went home, and showed his money to his , who had now became his great friends and almost like grandparents. He gave all the rest of the money to them, and told that he had spent half of the money for candies for the children. They looked at each other for a second, but said nothing. They excepted the money and thanked him and said that he had done good work. He said that he had wanted to bring a computer for them, but that the director did not allow. He didn’t say that the boss had actually become angry. When Shano had gone to his room, the ‘grandparents’ looked at each other again, and said to each other: “He has been cheated. This director is a great cheat.” It didn’t even come to their mind for a second that Shano could have been dishonest and hidden a lot of money so as to not to give it to them. They knew his character quite well by now, and knew that he was impeccably honest – and they were right in their judgment. But Shano knew nothing about the value of money. Next day he went to his work again just as happy as always. Though, he still hoped that the director would give him a computer for his ‘grandparents.’ But it never happened.

In the little over four months that he had been in the city, he had made many friends, and they were of all classes and types, poor and rich, educated and non-educated, having