Once a little girl bought a beautiful string of pearls in a fair. The pearls were fake but the child did not know it and was very fond of the string. She wore it all the time and never parted with it. She removed it only while bathing.
Every night before the girl slept, her father used to tell her a story. After narrating the story, the father would ask her to give him the chain and she would refuse. This went on for several days. Since the pearls were not real, after some time, the chain lost its shine and the child too lost her interest in it.
Finally one day the little girl parted with her chain. The father took the faded fake chain, pulled out a real pearl chain from his pocket and gave it the child.
Material wealth is like the fake pearl chain. God always waits to shower the real spiritual wealth on us. To gain this we need to surrender ourselves to Him, serve the society and sacrifice worldly things. This leads to God realisation.
Translated by : Dr Sharada Jayagovind
