Worth of a diamond

Once there was a blind man, who used to make a living by begging near a market. He had no one for himself, but for a wood cutter who used to come every evening and sit beside him and chat for half an hour. The wood cutter used to give him some food to eat while chatting with him. Once a rich merchant who was passing by the market saw this blind man and pitied him. Now this merchant had a habit of helping out the poor, whenever he saw some poor people and had a desire to give them anything he would put his hand inside his coat and whatever his hand got, he would just give it to the people and go away, without seeing what the amount is or the thing he had given.
When he saw this blindman also he put his hand in his pocket and his hands took out a diamond. Looking at it the merchant was so happy for the beggar because the diamond was worth more than a million rupees. He went to the beggar and said " Dear one, i am giving this diamond which is worth more than a million rupees. Accept this and go and sell it at a good price and get yourself a beautiful house, sevants, cook , vehicle etc. and live comfortably. " On hearing this the beggars face which was full of tension and anxiety, now turned, full of joy and peace. The merchant left that place after handing over the diamond to the beggar.
In the evening the woodcutter came as usual to the blind man and saw an unusual joy and peace in the face of the blind man and started enquiring the reason behind it. The blind man happily narrated the whole thing that had happened. The wood cutter who couldn't believe it started shouting at the foolishness of the blind man. He said, "Dear friend, someone must have played a joke with you, by giving a piece of crystal in your hand and telling that it a diamond. Would anyone give such valuable diamond to a beggar, who is in no way related to him." On hearing the words of the woodcutter the blindman started becoming suspicious. The woodcutter urged him to throw the so called diamond into a well so that the game is not repeated with any other person. On listening to the words of the wood cutter the blindman was made to believe him and ultimately he threw the diamond into the well and as usual started begging.
After a few days the same merchant happened to pass through the market and he saw the beggar still begging. He went to him and enquired why he was still begging when he ought to been in a comfortable place. One hearing his voice the beggar spoke angrily and harsly as how the merchant was playing a joke on him and asked him never to come before him. The merchant saw that the beggar didn't know the worth of the diamond and asked him what he had done with it. The beggar said that he had thrown it into the well.
Next day the merchant brought some people and got all the water out of the well and got back his diamond from it and put it back into his pocket leaving the people of the village quiet puzzled.


Human life is also like the precious diamond. It is very rare to get a birth of human being. But like the blind man we are not aware of the precious human life that we have got. God had given this human birth, for us to realize ourselves and be in a state of deep bliss but instead we tend to go away from satsang etc and waste our life, by various distraction, just as the beggar had done by throwing the diamond because of the advise of his friend - the woodcutter.
Human life is precious, make the best use of it - in realizing ouselves.