CONTENTMENT
A CANDLE and a joss-stick were burning side by side in the two niches of a wall. Each was conveying a message to the wold in the process of burning. The candle with its mild light and the joss-stick with its sweet perfume.
One day the elegant white candle cried out saucily to the thin, black joss-stick, “You are so dark and thin and ugly, nobody would ever think of looking at you twice!”
The joss-stick held its peace. Its silence provoked the candle to words of greater insolence. “You don’t seem to possess even the wit to answer me. I see that ugliness isn’t your only drawback.”
There came gust of wind and puffed out the candle even as its boastful words were being uttered, leaving behind only an unpleasant smell.
The joss-stick glowed on, content to spread its fragrance. Its Supreme Virtue was Contentment.
THE INNER LIGHT | NOT BY PRAYER ALONE | FIRE AND WATER | COME IN-COME IN | THE WORLD : A MIRROR ! | NOT A GRAVEYARD | THE BRUTE IN MAN | THE WEIGHT OF A FLOWER | VISION | TRUST BEGENTS TRUST | INSATIABLE | SEEING THE INVISIBLE | DIALOGUE | THE TOUCHSTONE OF FRIENDSHIP | ELEGANCE OF SPEECH | CONSTRUCTION-NOT DESTRUCTION | NOT IN THE EYE-IN THE HEART | CONTENTMENT | VOICE AND VISION |THE MAGNETISM OF LOVE |THE SMILE OF GOODWILL| BEHAVIOUR |THE PRICE OF ACQUISITION | THE BETTER-HALF| LIGHT AND DARKNESS| THE WAY TO KNOWLEDGE