The Lord Cares for the Feeling Behind the Act

Abdullah was sleeping in a corner of a mosque in Mecca, when he was awakened by the conversation of two angels above his head.

They were preparing a list of the blessed and one angel was telling the other that a certain Mahbub of Sikandar City deserved to be ranked first, even though he had not come on pilgrimage to the Holy City.

Hearing this Abdullah went to Sikandar City and found that he [Mahbub] was a cobbler, repairing the shoes of people. He was famished and poor; his earnings barely sufficed to keep flesh and bone together. He had by severe sacrifice piled up a few coppers during the course of years.

One day, he spent the entire treasure to prepare a special dish, which he proposed to place before his enceinte wife as a surprise gift. When he was proceeding home with the gift, he heard the cry of a starving beggar who seemed to be in the throes of extreme hunger. Mahbub could not proceed any further; he gave the pot containing the costly delicacy to the man and sat by his side, enjoying the blossoming of satisfaction on his haggard face.

That act gave him a place of honor in the register of the Blessed.

The Lord cares for the feeling behind the act, not the fanfare and the fuss.

(Chinna Katha by Baba)