Whose bag is bigger?

A man was very much burdened by his suffering. He used to pray every day to God, ‘Why me? Everybody seems to be so happy, why am only I in such suffering?’ One day, out of great desperation, he prayed to God, ‘You can give me anybody else’s suffering and I am ready to accept it. But take mine, I cannot bear it any more.’

That night he had a beautiful dream, beautiful and very revealing. He had a dream that night that God appeared in the sky and he said to everybody, ‘Bring all your sufferings into the temple.’ Everybody was tired of his suffering – in fact everybody has prayed some time or other, ‘I am ready to accept anybody else’s suffering, but take mine away; this is too much, it is unbearable.’

So everybody gathered his own sufferings into bags, and they reached the temple, and they were looking very happy; the day has come, their prayer has been heard. And this man also rushed to the temple.

And then God said, ‘Put your bags by the walls.’ All the bags were put by the walls, and then God declared: ‘Now you can choose. Anybody can take any bag.’

And the most surprising thing was this: that this man who had been praying always, rushed towards his bag before anybody else could choose it! But he was in for a surprise, because everybody rushed to his own bag, and everybody was happy to choose it again. What was the matter? For the first time, everybody had seen others’ miseries, others’ sufferings – their bags were as big, or even bigger!

In the morning he prayed to God and he said, ‘Thank you for the dream; I will never ask again. Whatsoever you have given me is good for me, must be good for me; that’s why you have given it to me.’