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739. The Real Value of Man

People in their seventies or sixties may remember that before 1960 buyers of cars had to deposit the full cost of the car with the dealer and wait for months for delivery, sometimes even a full year. Cars in India were then in the seller's market. Now car manufacturers come to the buyers to persuade them to buy, themselves arranging for a bank loan. The condition of the market has changed. The product is in the buyer's market. The seller who was once unapproachable has absolutely no difficulty in switching over to being a persuasive salesman calling at your house at your convenience. Nor is it difficult for the buyer to assume the role of importance. Such men are determined by the circumstances. They will not be leaders.  No accomplishment of value will come their way. They are not the men who will build the world. Spirit is NOT for them. The Spirit is for spirited men who do not change with the changing circumstances. They can be fair weather friends, who will not be able to offer loyalty with honour.

There was a soapstone manufacturer in Varanasi in the seventies doing a business of ten lakhs of rupees a year. A Pondicherry customer sent his purchase officer there so that he might carefully supervise the packing of those delicate, brittle products. The officer drank and slept while the packing was going on. The buyer lost about Rs. 50,000 in breakage. As his own man was at fault, the buyer did not complain. The seller heard of the breakages from the purchase officer and flew to Pondicherry in distress. He offered to bear the entire loss, though the responsibility lay in this case with the purchase officer. The buyer refused to take the compensation. In the subsequent invoices, the seller gave Rs. 50,000 worth of discount on his own. Such a man values value. It makes him a valuable human being.

In the next two years the business of the Varanasi soapstone manufacturer crossed a few crores. Value makes one Spiritual. Of all the prosperities, Spiritual Prosperity is the most valuable. It includes material prosperity, mental prosperity and social prosperity. Henry Ford used to say ‘Take the work to the man and not the man to the work'. He meant the work should be so diluted that the Man would understand it perfectly. We should not expect a man to understand a work because he has to do it. Mother has brought the Spirit to Man contrary to the tradition of any country. She awaits at our doorsteps, She says. But man should be MAN to receive it as Spirit or prosperity. For that, he should be one who determines the circumstances, not one who changes when the circumstances change. Man is important. Friendship is spiritual, family is of paramount value, not the immediate gain.



story | by Dr. Radut