084 The Poorest Corner
Hey Tulsi, you were given the poorest corner of the yard, and you give the whole house something back.
Do we give in proportion to what we were handed?
Do you give in proportion to what you were given?
In the corner of a small courtyard, a tulsi plant grows, often in the poorest patch of the yard.
Yet every morning, someone in the house touches it, waters it and picks a few leaves.
What really happens
Tulsi, or holy basil, grows easily and asks for little. Its fragrant leaves are a small, daily gift to the household.
Tulasi has been valued in Indian homes for centuries. In Ayurveda it is used for coughs, colds, fever and stress. Modern science has begun to test these uses. Early studies in people suggest it may help with stress, blood sugar, cholesterol and immunity, but those studies are small, and scientists say more research is needed.
How we know: Jamshidi and Cohen, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2017: a review of 24 human studies of tulsi.
The turn
We often wait to be given more before we give.
The tulsi gives fully from the smallest corner.
Three takeaways
- You can give from any corner.
- Give more than you were handed.
- Small daily gifts add up to a blessing.
From the poorest corner, give the whole house.
And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.