Generosity

Mahatma Gandhi went
from city to city, village
to village collecting
funds for the Charkha
Sangh. During one of his
tours he addressed a
meeting in Orissa. After
his speech a poor old
woman got up. She was
bent with age, her hair
was grey and her
clothes were in tatters.
The volunteers tried to
stop her, but she
fought her way to the
place where Gandhiji
was sitting. "I must see
him," she insisted and
going up to Gandhiji
touched his feet. Then
from the folds of her
sari she brought out a
copper coin and placed it
at his feet. Gandhiji
picked up the copper
coin and put it away
carefully. The Charkha
Sangh funds were
under the charge of
Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked
Gandhiji for the coin but
Gandhiji refused. "I keep
cheques worth
thousands of rupees
for the Charkha Sangh,"
Jamnalal Bajaj said
laughingly "yet you
won't trust me with a
copper coin." "This
copper coin is worth
much more than those
thousands," Gandhiji
said. "If a man has
several lakhs and he
gives away a thousand
or two, it doesn't mean
much. But this coin was
perhaps all that the
poor woman
possessed. She gave
me all she had. That
was very generous of
her. What a great
sacrifice she made.
That is why I value this
copper coin more than a
crore of rupees."